A MAPS based vertex detector for the STAR experiment at RHIC Greiner, L.; Anderssen, E.; Matis, H.S. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
09/2011, Volume:
650, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
The STAR experiment at RHIC is in the process of upgrading the inner detector region of the experiment to improve the vertex resolution. We describe the current design of a MAPS based vertex ...detector, which is the innermost and highest resolution detector of the set of three planned upgrade detectors. This detector will enable the identification of decay vertices displaced from the interaction vertex by 100–150
μm and extend the capabilities of the STAR detector in the heavy flavor domain. We present selected detector design characteristics and prototyping results, which help to validate the design in preparation for the construction of the detector.
We review the main results obtained by the BRAHMS Collaboration on the properties of hot and dense hadronic and partonic matter produced in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions at RHIC. A ...particular focus of this paper is to discuss to what extent the results collected so far by BRAHMS, and by the other three experiments at RHIC, can be taken as evidence for the formation of a state of deconfined partonic matter, the so-called quark–gluon plasma (QGP). We also discuss evidence for a possible precursor state to the QGP, i.e., the proposed color glass condensate.
In this study, the density distributions of large nuclei are typically modeled with a Woods–Saxon distribution characterized by a radius R0 and skin depth a. Deformation parameters β are then ...introduced to describe non-spherical nuclei using an expansion in spherical harmonics R0(1+β2Y20+β4Y40). But when a nucleus is non-spherical, the R0 and a inferred from electron scattering experiments that integrate over all nuclear orientations cannot be used directly as the parameters in the Woods–Saxon distribution. In addition, the β2 values typically derived from the reduced electric quadrupole transition probability B(E2)↑ are not directly related to the β2 values used in the spherical harmonic expansion. B(E2)↑ is more accurately related to the intrinsic quadrupole moment Q0 than to β2. One can however calculate Q0 for a given β2 and then derive B(E2)↑ from Q0. In this paper we calculate and tabulate the R0, a , and β2 values that when used in a Woods–Saxon distribution, will give results consistent with electron scattering data. We then present calculations of the second and third harmonic participant eccentricity (ε2 and ε3) with the new and old parameters. We demonstrate that ε3 is particularly sensitive to a and argue that using the incorrect value of a has important implications for the extraction of viscosity to entropy ratio (η/s) from the QGP created in Heavy Ion collisions.
The BRAHMS experiment at RHIC Adamczyk, M; Antvorskov, L; Ashktorab, K ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
03/2003, Volume:
499, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
The BRAHMS experiment at RHIC was conceived to pursue the understanding of nuclear matter under extreme conditions by detailed measurements of charged hadrons over the widest possible range of ...rapidity and transverse momentum. The experiment consists of two spectrometers with complementary charged hadron detection capabilities as well as a series of global detectors for event characterization. A series of tracking detectors, time-of-flight arms and Cherenkov detectors enables momentum determination and particle identification over a wide range of rapidity and transverse momentum. Technical details and performance results are presented for the various detector subsystems. The performance of the entire system working together is shown to meet the goals of the experiment.
We report the first measurements of the moments--mean (M), variance (σ(2)), skewness (S), and kurtosis (κ)--of the net-charge multiplicity distributions at midrapidity in Au+Au collisions at seven ...energies, ranging from sqrtsNN=7.7 to 200 GeV, as a part of the Beam Energy Scan program at RHIC. The moments are related to the thermodynamic susceptibilities of net charge, and are sensitive to the location of the QCD critical point. We compare the products of the moments, σ(2)/M, Sσ, and κσ(2), with the expectations from Poisson and negative binomial distributions (NBDs). The Sσ values deviate from the Poisson baseline and are close to the NBD baseline, while the κσ(2) values tend to lie between the two. Within the present uncertainties, our data do not show nonmonotonic behavior as a function of collision energy. These measurements provide a valuable tool to extract the freeze-out parameters in heavy-ion collisions by comparing with theoretical models.
Mid-rapidity spectra and yields of K
− and K
+ have been measured for Au+Au collisions at 4, 6, 8, and 10.7 AGeV. The K
− yield increases faster with beam energy than for K
+ and hence the K
−/K
+ ...ratio increases with beam energy. This ratio is studied as a function of both
s
and
s
−
s
th
which allows the direct comparison of the kaon yields with respect to the production threshold in p+p reactions. For equal
s
−
s
th
the measured ratio K
−/K
+=0.2 at energies above threshold in contrast to the K
−/K
+ ratio of near unity observed at energies below threshold. The use of the K
−/K
+ ratio to test the predicted changes of kaon properties in dense nuclear matter is discussed.
Local parity-odd domains are theorized to form inside a quark-gluon plasma which has been produced in high-energy heavy-ion collisions. The local parity-odd domains manifest themselves as charge ...separation along the magnetic field axis via the chiral magnetic effect. The experimental observation of charge separation has previously been reported for heavy-ion collisions at the top RHIC energies. In this Letter, we present the results of the beam-energy dependence of the charge correlations in Au+Au collisions at midrapidity for center-of-mass energies of 7.7, 11.5, 19.6, 27, 39, and 62.4 GeV from the STAR experiment. After background subtraction, the signal gradually reduces with decreased beam energy and tends to vanish by 7.7 GeV. This implies the dominance of hadronic interactions over partonic ones at lower collision energies.
The first (v_{1}^{fluc}), second (v_{2}), and third (v_{3}) harmonic coefficients of the azimuthal particle distribution at midrapidity are extracted for charged hadrons and studied as a function of ...transverse momentum (p_{T}) and mean charged particle multiplicity density ⟨N_{ch}⟩ in U+U (sqrts_{NN}=193 GeV), Au+Au, Cu+Au, Cu+Cu, d+Au, and p+Au collisions at sqrts_{NN}=200 GeV with the STAR detector. For the same ⟨N_{ch}⟩, the v_{1}^{fluc} and v_{3} coefficients are observed to be independent of the collision system, while v_{2} exhibits such a scaling only when normalized by the initial-state eccentricity (ϵ_{2}). The data also show that ln(v_{2}/ϵ_{2}) scales linearly with ⟨N_{ch}⟩^{-1/3}. These measurements provide insight into initial-geometry fluctuations and the role of viscous hydrodynamic attenuation on v_{n} from small to large collision systems.
We report the triton (t) production in midrapidity (|y|<0.5) Au+Au collisions at sqrts_{NN}=7.7-200 GeV measured by the STAR experiment from the first phase of the beam energy scan at the ...Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The nuclear compound yield ratio (N_{t}×N_{p}/N_{d}^{2}), which is predicted to be sensitive to the fluctuation of local neutron density, is observed to decrease monotonically with increasing charged-particle multiplicity (dN_{ch}/dη) and follows a scaling behavior. The dN_{ch}/dη dependence of the yield ratio is compared to calculations from coalescence and thermal models. Enhancements in the yield ratios relative to the coalescence baseline are observed in the 0%-10% most central collisions at 19.6 and 27 GeV, with a significance of 2.3σ and 3.4σ, respectively, giving a combined significance of 4.1σ. The enhancements are not observed in peripheral collisions or model calculations without critical fluctuation, and decreases with a smaller p_{T} acceptance. The physics implications of these results on the QCD phase structure and the production mechanism of light nuclei in heavy-ion collisions are discussed.
The BRAHMS experiment was designed to measure and characterize in particular the properties of rapidity dependence of particle production in heavy ion collisions. The data-taking is now over, results ...of several years of analysis have been published and demonstrates several important features of the rapidity dependence, not envisioned from the start of the RHIC program. The bulk properties of the system formed at high rapidity resemble that of systems at lower energies at mid-rapidity when referenced via the baryo-chemical potential. New physics in AA are essentially observed at mid-rapidity including the demonstration that high-
p
T
suppression is a final state effect. Another key result is that in d+A collisions at forward rapidities where the very low-x region of the nucleus was probed, a strong suppression of pion production was observed consistent with the picture of gluon saturation. The latest results examines the centrality and rapidity dependence of nuclear stopping, the particle production of pions, collective expansion vs. rapidity, and the baryon enhancement at intermediate values of
p
T
.
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