Collisions between prolate uranium nuclei are used to study how particle production and azimuthal anisotropies depend on initial geometry in heavy-ion collisions. We report the two- and four-particle ...cumulants, v_{2}{2} and v_{2}{4}, for charged hadrons from U+U collisions at sqrts_{NN}=193 GeV and Au+Au collisions at sqrts_{NN}=200 GeV. Nearly fully overlapping collisions are selected based on the energy deposited by spectators in zero degree calorimeters (ZDCs). Within this sample, the observed dependence of v_{2}{2} on multiplicity demonstrates that ZDC information combined with multiplicity can preferentially select different overlap configurations in U+U collisions. We also show that v_{2} vs multiplicity can be better described by models, such as gluon saturation or quark participant models, that eliminate the dependence of the multiplicity on the number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions.
The study of (anti-)deuteron production in pp collisions has proven to be a powerful tool to investigate the formation mechanism of loosely bound states in high-energy hadronic collisions. In this ...paper the production of
(anti-)deuterons
is studied as a function of the charged particle multiplicity in inelastic pp collisions at
s
=
13
TeV using the ALICE experiment. Thanks to the large number of accumulated minimum bias events, it has been possible to measure (anti-)deuteron production in pp collisions up to the same charged particle multiplicity (
d
N
ch
/
d
η
∼
26
) as measured in p–Pb collisions at similar centre-of-mass energies. Within the uncertainties, the deuteron yield in pp collisions resembles the one in p–Pb interactions, suggesting a common formation mechanism behind the production of light nuclei in hadronic interactions. In this context the measurements are compared with the expectations of coalescence and statistical hadronisation models (SHM).
We present measurements of π(-) and π(+) elliptic flow, v(2), at midrapidity in Au+Au collisions at √s(NN)=200, 62.4, 39, 27, 19.6, 11.5, and 7.7 GeV, as a function of event-by-event charge ...asymmetry, A(ch), based on data from the STAR experiment at RHIC. We find that π(-) (π(+)) elliptic flow linearly increases (decreases) with charge asymmetry for most centrality bins at √s(NN)=27 GeV and higher. At √s(NN)=200 GeV, the slope of the difference of v(2) between π(-) and π(+) as a function of A(ch) exhibits a centrality dependence, which is qualitatively similar to calculations that incorporate a chiral magnetic wave effect. Similar centrality dependence is also observed at lower energies.
The interaction of
K
-
with protons is characterised by the presence of several coupled channels, systems like
K
¯
0
n and
π
Σ
with a similar mass and the same quantum numbers as the
K
-
p state. The ...strengths of these couplings to the
K
-
p system are of crucial importance for the understanding of the nature of the
Λ
(
1405
)
resonance and of the attractive
K
-
p strong interaction. In this article, we present measurements of the
K
-
p correlation functions in relative momentum space obtained in pp collisions at
s
=
13
Te, in p–Pb collisions at
s
NN
=
5.02
Te, and (semi)peripheral Pb–Pb collisions at
s
NN
=
5.02
Te. The emitting source size, composed of a core radius anchored to the
K
+
p correlation and of a resonance halo specific to each particle pair, varies between 1 and 2 fm in these collision systems. The strength and the effects of the
K
¯
0
n and
π
Σ
inelastic channels on the measured
K
-
p correlation function are investigated in the different colliding systems by comparing the data with state-of-the-art models of chiral potentials. A novel approach to determine the conversion weights
ω
, necessary to quantify the amount of produced inelastic channels in the correlation function, is presented. In this method, particle yields are estimated from thermal model predictions, and their kinematic distribution from blast-wave fits to measured data. The comparison of chiral potentials to the measured
K
-
p interaction indicates that, while the
π
Σ
–
K
-
p dynamics is well reproduced by the model, the coupling to the
K
¯
0
n channel in the model is currently underestimated.
A
bstract
The production of prompt charmed mesons D
0
, D
+
and D
∗+
, and their antiparticles, was measured with the ALICE detector in Pb-Pb collisions at the centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair,
...s
N
N
, of 2
.
76 TeV. The production yields for rapidity |
y
|
<
0
.
5 are presented as a function of transverse momentum,
p
T
, in the interval 1–36 GeV
/c
for the centrality class 0–10% and in the interval 1–16 GeV
/c
for the centrality class 30–50%. The nuclear modification factor
R
AA
was computed using a proton-proton reference at
s
=
2.76
TeV, based on measurements at
s
=
7
TeV and on theoretical calculations. A maximum suppression by a factor of 5-6 with respect to binary-scaled pp yields is observed for the most central collisions at
p
T
of about 10 GeV
/c
. A suppression by a factor of about 2-3 persists at the highest
p
T
covered by the measurements. At low
p
T
(1-3 GeV
/c
), the
R
AA
has large uncertainties that span the range 0.35 (factor of about 3 suppression) to 1 (no suppression). In all
p
T
intervals, the
R
AA
is larger in the 30-50% centrality class compared to central collisions. The D-meson
R
AA
is also compared with that of charged pions and, at large
p
T
, charged hadrons, and with model calculations.
One of the primary goals of nuclear physics is to understand the force between nucleons, which is a necessary step for understanding the structure of nuclei and how nuclei interact with each other. ...Rutherford discovered the atomic nucleus in 1911, and the large body of knowledge about the nuclear force that has since been acquired was derived from studies made on nucleons or nuclei. Although antinuclei up to antihelium-4 have been discovered and their masses measured, little is known directly about the nuclear force between antinucleons. Here, we study antiproton pair correlations among data collected by the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), where gold ions are collided with a centre-of-mass energy of 200 gigaelectronvolts per nucleon pair. Antiprotons are abundantly produced in such collisions, thus making it feasible to study details of the antiproton-antiproton interaction. By applying a technique similar to Hanbury Brown and Twiss intensity interferometry, we show that the force between two antiprotons is attractive. In addition, we report two key parameters that characterize the corresponding strong interaction: the scattering length and the effective range of the interaction. Our measured parameters are consistent within errors with the corresponding values for proton-proton interactions. Our results provide direct information on the interaction between two antiprotons, one of the simplest systems of antinucleons, and so are fundamental to understanding the structure of more-complex antinuclei and their properties.
The production of the ψ(2S) charmonium state was measured with ALICE in Pb-Pb collisions at sqrts_{NN}=5.02 TeV, in the dimuon decay channel. A significant signal was observed for the first time at ...LHC energies down to zero transverse momentum, at forward rapidity (2.5<y<4). The measurement of the ratio of the inclusive production cross sections of the ψ(2S) and J/ψ resonances is reported as a function of the centrality of the collisions and of transverse momentum, in the region p_{T}<12 GeV/c. The results are compared with the corresponding measurements in pp collisions, by forming the double ratio σ^{ψ(2S)}/σ^{J/ψ}_{Pb-Pb}/σ^{ψ(2S)}/σ^{J/ψ}_{pp}. It is found that in Pb-Pb collisions the ψ(2S) is suppressed by a factor of ∼2 with respect to the J/ψ. The ψ(2S) nuclear modification factor R_{AA} was also obtained as a function of both centrality and p_{T}. The results show that the ψ(2S) resonance yield is strongly suppressed in Pb-Pb collisions, by a factor of up to ∼3 with respect to pp. Comparisons of cross section ratios with previous Super Proton Synchrotron findings by the NA50 experiment and of R_{AA} with higher-p_{T} results at LHC energy are also reported. These results and the corresponding comparisons with calculations of transport and statistical models address questions on the presence and properties of charmonium states in the quark-gluon plasma formed in nuclear collisions at the LHC.
High-energy nuclear collisions create an energy density similar to that of the Universe microseconds after the Big Bang; in both cases, matter and antimatter are formed with comparable abundance. ...However, the relatively short-lived expansion in nuclear collisions allows antimatter to decouple quickly from matter, and avoid annihilation. Thus, a high-energy accelerator of heavy nuclei provides an efficient means of producing and studying antimatter. The antimatter helium-4 nucleus (4He), also known as the anti-α (α), consists of two antiprotons and two antineutrons (baryon number B = -4). It has not been observed previously, although the α-particle was identified a century ago by Rutherford and is present in cosmic radiation at the ten per cent level. Antimatter nuclei with B < -1 have been observed only as rare products of interactions at particle accelerators, where the rate of antinucleus production in high-energy collisions decreases by a factor of about 1,000 with each additional antinucleon. Here we report the observation of 4He, the heaviest observed antinucleus to date. In total, 18 4He counts were detected at the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC; ref. 6) in 10(9) recorded gold-on-gold (Au+Au) collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 200 GeV and 62 GeV per nucleon-nucleon pair. The yield is consistent with expectations from thermodynamic and coalescent nucleosynthesis models, providing an indication of the production rate of even heavier antimatter nuclei and a benchmark for possible future observations of 4He in cosmic radiation.
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