Recently, multiparticle-correlation measurements of relativistic p/d/^{3}He+Au, p+Pb, and even p+p collisions show surprising collective signatures. Here, we present beam-energy-scan measurements of ...two-, four-, and six-particle angular correlations in d+Au collisions at sqrts_{NN}=200, 62.4, 39, and 19.6 GeV. We also present measurements of two- and four-particle angular correlations in p+Au collisions at sqrts_{NN}=200 GeV. We find the four-particle cumulant to be real valued for d+Au collisions at all four energies. We also find that the four-particle cumulant in p+Au has the opposite sign as that in d+Au. Further, we find that the six-particle cumulant agrees with the four-particle cumulant in d+Au collisions at 200 GeV, indicating that nonflow effects are subdominant. These observations provide strong evidence that the correlations originate from the initial geometric configuration, which is then translated into the momentum distribution for all particles, commonly referred to as collectivity.
Experimental studies of the collisions of heavy nuclei at relativistic energies have established the properties of the quark–gluon plasma (QGP), a state of hot, dense nuclear matter in which quarks ...and gluons are not bound into hadrons1–4. In this state, matter behaves as a nearly inviscid fluid5 that efficiently translates initial spatial anisotropies into correlated momentum anisotropies among the particles produced, creating a common velocity field pattern known as collective flow. In recent years, comparable momentum anisotropies have been measured in small-system proton–proton (p+p) and proton–nucleus (p+A) collisions, despite expectations that the volume and lifetime of the medium produced would be too small to form a QGP. Here we report on the observation of elliptic and triangular flow patterns of charged particles produced in proton–gold (p+Au), deuteron–gold (d+Au) and helium–gold (3He+Au) collisions at a nucleon–nucleon centre-of-mass energy \\sqrt {s_{{\mathrm{NN}}}\ = 200 GeV. The unique combination of three distinct initial geometries and two flow patterns provides unprecedented model discrimination. Hydrodynamical models, which include the formation of a short-lived QGP droplet, provide the best simultaneous description of these measurements.
The PHENIX Electromagnetic Calorimeter (EMCal) is used to measure the spatial position and energy of electrons and photons produced in heavy ion collisions. It covers the full central spectrometer ...acceptance of 70°⩽
θ⩽110° with two walls, each subtending 90° in azimuth. One wall comprises four sectors of a Pb-scintillator sampling calorimeter and the other has two sectors of Pb-scintillator and two of a Pb-glass Cherenkov calorimeter. Both detectors have very good energy, spatial and timing resolution, while the Pb-scintillator excels in timing and the Pb-glass in energy measurements. Also, having two detectors with different systematics increases the confidence level of the physics results. Design and operational parameters of the Pb-scintillator, Pb-glass and special readout electronics for EMCal are presented and running experience during the first year of data taking with PHENIX is discussed. Some examples of data taken during the first run are shown.
During 2015, the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) provided collisions of transversely polarized protons with Au and Al nuclei for the first time, enabling the exploration of ...transverse-single-spin asymmetries with heavy nuclei. Large single-spin asymmetries in very forward neutron production have been previously observed in transversely polarized p+p collisions at RHIC, and the existing theoretical framework that was successful in describing the single-spin asymmetry in p+p collisions predicts only a moderate atomic-mass-number (A) dependence. In contrast, the asymmetries observed at RHIC in p+A collisions showed a surprisingly strong A dependence in inclusive forward neutron production. The observed asymmetry in p+Al collisions is much smaller, while the asymmetry in p+Au collisions is a factor of 3 larger in absolute value and of opposite sign. The interplay of different neutron production mechanisms is discussed as a possible explanation of the observed A dependence.
We present measurements of the cross section and double-helicity asymmetry ALL of direct-photon production in p→+p→ collisions at s=510 GeV. The measurements have been performed at midrapidity (|η|
Reported here are transverse single-spin asymmetries (AN) in the production of charged hadrons as a function of transverse momentum (pT) and Feynman-x (xF) in polarized p↑ + p, p↑ + Al, and p↑ + Au ...collisions at $\sqrt{^SNN}$ = 200 GeV. The measurements have been performed at forward and backward rapidity (1.4 < |η| < 2.4) over the range of 1.5 GeV /c < pT < 7.0 GeV /c and 0.04 < |xF| < 0.2. A nonzero asymmetry is observed for positively charged hadrons at forward rapidity (xF > 0) in p↑ + p collisions, whereas the p↑ + Al and p↑ + Au results show smaller asymmetries. This finding provides new opportunities to investigate the origin of transverse single-spin asymmetries and a tool to study nuclear effects in p + A collisions.
Polarized proton-proton collisions provide leading-order access to gluons, presenting an opportunity to constrain gluon spin-momentum correlations within transversely polarized protons and enhance ...our understanding of the three-dimensional structure of the proton. Midrapidity open-heavy-flavor production at $\sqrt{s}$ = 200 GeV is dominated by gluon-gluon fusion, providing heightened sensitivity to gluon dynamics relative to other production channels. Transverse single-spin asymmetries of positrons and electrons from heavy-flavor hadron decays are measured at midrapidity using the PHENIX detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. These charge-separated measurements are sensitive to gluon correlators that can in principle be related to gluon orbital angular momentum via model calculations. Explicit constraints on gluon correlators are extracted for two separate models, one of which had not been constrained previously.
The cross section and transverse single-spin asymmetries of μ− and μ+ from open heavy-flavor decays in polarized p+p collisions at s=200 GeV were measured by the PHENIX experiment during 2012 at the ...Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. Because heavy-flavor production is dominated by gluon-gluon interactions at s=200 GeV, these measurements offer a unique opportunity to obtain information on the trigluon correlation functions. The measurements are performed at forward and backward rapidity (1.4<|y|<2.0) over the transverse momentum range of 1.25<pT<7 GeV/c for the cross section and 1.25<pT<5 GeV/c for the asymmetry measurements. The obtained cross section is compared to a fixed-order-plus-next-to-leading-log perturbative-quantum-chromodynamics calculation. The asymmetry results are consistent with zero within uncertainties, and a model calculation based on twist-3 three-gluon correlations agrees with the data.
Presented are the first measurements of the transverse single-spin asymmetries ($A_N$) for neutral pions and eta mesons in $\textit{p}$ + Au and $\textit{p}$ + Al collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 ...GeV in the pseudorapidity range |$\textit{η}$| < 0.35 with the PHENIX detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The asymmetries are consistent with zero, similar to those for midrapidity neutral pions and eta mesons produced in $\textit{p}$ + $\textit{p}$ collisions. These measurements show no evidence of additional effects that could potentially arise from the more complex partonic environment present in proton-nucleus collisions.
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