Transverse energy, charged particle pseudorapidity distributions and photon transverse momentum spectra have been studied as a function of the number of participants (\(N_{part}\)) and the number of ...binary nucleon-nucleon collisions (\(N_{coll}\)) in 158\(\cdot A\) GeV Pb+Pb collisions over a wide impact parameter range. A scaling of the transverse energy pseudorapidity density at midrapidity as \(\sim N_{part}^{1.08 \pm 0.06}\) and \(\sim N_{coll}^{0.83 \pm 0.05}\) is observed. For the charged particle pseudorapidity density at midrapidity we find a scaling as \(\sim N_{part}^{1.07 \pm 0.04}\) and \(\sim N_{coll}^{0.82 \pm 0.03}\). This faster than linear scaling with \(N_{part}\) indicates a violation of the naive Wounded Nucleon Model.
Event-by-event fluctuations in the multiplicities of charged particles and photons, and the total transverse energy in 158A GeV Pb+Pb collisions are studied for a wide range of centralities. For ...narrow centrality bins the multiplicity and transverse energy distributions are found to be near perfect Gaussians. The effect of detector acceptance on the multiplicity fluctuations has been studied and demonstrated to follow statistical considerations. The centrality dependence of the charged particle multiplicity fluctuations in the measured data has been found to agree reasonably well with those obtained from a participant model. However, for photons the multiplicity fluctuations have been found to be lower compared to those obtained from a participant model. The multiplicity and transverse energy fluctuations have also been compared to those obtained from the VENUS event generator.
Neutral pion transverse momentum spectra were measured in p+C and p+Pb collisions at sqrtS{NN}=17.4 GeV at midrapidity (2.3 less than or approximately equal eta{lab} less than or approximately equal ...3.0) over the range 0.7 less than or approximately equal p{T} less than or approximately equal 3.5 GeV/c. The spectra are compared to pi{0} spectra measured in Pb+Pb collisions at sqrtS{NN}=17.3 GeV in the same experiment. For a wide range of Pb+Pb centralities (N{part} less than or approximately equal 300), the yield of pi{0}'s with p{T} greater than or approximately equal 2 GeV/c is larger than or consistent with the p+C or p+Pb yields scaled with the number of nucleon-nucleon collisions (N{coll}), while for central Pb+Pb collisions with N{part}greater than or approximately equal 350, the pi{0} yield is suppressed.
Directed and elliptic flow of inclusive photons near mid-rapidity in 158
A GeV Pb
+
Pb collisions has been studied. The data have been obtained with the photon spectrometer LEDA of the WA98 ...experiment at the CERN SPS. The flow strength has been measured for various centralities as a function of
p
T
and rapidity over
0.18
<
p
T
<
1.5
GeV
/
c
and
2.3
<
y
<
2.9
. The angular anisotropy has been studied relative to an event plane obtained in the target fragmentation region that shows the elliptic flow to be in-plane. The elliptic flow has also been studied using two-particle correlations and shown to give similar results. A small directed flow component is observed. Both the directed and elliptic flow strengths increase with
p
T
. The photon flow results are used to estimate the corresponding neutral pion flow.
The azimuthal distributions of photons and charged particles with respect to the event plane are investigated as a function of centrality in Pb-208 + Pb-208 collisions at 158 (.) A GeV/c in the WA98 ...experiment at the CERN SPS. The anisotropy of the azimuthal distributions is characterized using a Fourier analysis. For both the photon and charged particle distributions the first two Fourier coefficients are observed to decrease with increasing centrality. The observed anisotropies of the photon distributions compare well with the expectations from the charged particle measurements for all centralities.
Three-particle correlations have been measured for identified pi(-) from central 158A GeV Pb+Pb collisions by the WA98 experiment at CERN. A substantial contribution of the genuine three-body ...correlation has been found as expected for a mainly chaotic and symmetric source.
The effect of the final state Coulomb interaction on particles produced in Pb+Pb collisions at 158 AGeV/c has been investigated in the WA98 experiment through the study of the π-/π+ and K-/K+ ratios ...measured as a function of mT-m0. While the ratio for kaons shows no significant mT dependence, the π-/π+ ratio is enhanced at small mT-m0 values with an enhancement that increases with centrality. A silicon pad detector located near the target is used to estimate the contribution of hyperon decays to the π-/π+ ratio. The comparison of results with predictions of the RQMD model in which the Coulomb interaction has been incorporated allows to place constraints on the time of the pion freeze-out.
The restoration of chiral symmetry and its subsequent breaking through a phase transition has been predicted to create regions of Disoriented Chiral Condensates (DCC). This phenomenon has been ...predicted to cause anomalous fluctuations in the relative production of charged and neutral pions in high-energy hadronic and nuclear collisions. The WA98 experiment has been used to measure charged and photon multiplicities in the central region of 158 AGeV Pb+Pb collisions at the CERN SPS. In a sample of 212646 events, no clear DCC signal can be distinguished. Using a simple DCC model, we have set a 90% C.L. upper limit on the maximum DCC production allowed by the data.
The effect of the final state Coulomb interaction on particles produced in Pb + Pb collisions at 158AGeV/c has been investigated in the WA98 experiment through the study of the pi(-)/pi(+) and K-/K+ ...ratios measured as a function of T-m- (m)0. While the ratio for kaons shows no significant T-m dependence, the pi(-)/pi(+) ratio is enhanced at small T-m - (m)0 values with an enhancement that increases with centrality. A silicon pad detector located near the target is used to estimate the contribution of hyperon decays to the pi(-)/pi(+) ratio. The comparison of results with predictions of the RQMD model in which the Coulomb interaction has been incorporated allows to place constraints on the time of the pion freeze-out.
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