J/psi production has been measured in proton-proton collisions at roots=200 GeV over a wide rapidity and transverse momentum range by the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. ...Distributions of the rapidity and transverse momentum, along with measurements of the mean transverse momentum and total production cross section are presented and compared to available theoretical calculations. The total J/psi cross section is 4.0+/-0.6(stat)+/-0.6(syst)+/-0.4(abs) mub. The mean transverse momentum is 1.80+/-0.23(stat)+/-0.16(syst) GeV/c.
The production of deuterons and antideuterons in the transverse momentum range 1.1 < p(T)< 4.3 GeV/c at midrapidity in Au+Au collisions at root s(NN) = 200 GeV has been studied by the PHENIX ...experiment at RHIC. A coalescence analysis, comparing the deuteron and antideuteron spectra with that of proton and antiproton, has been performed. The coalescence probability is equal for both deuterons and antideuterons and it increases as a function of p(T), which is consistent with an expanding collision zone. Comparing (anti)proton yields, (p) over bar /p = 0.73 +/- 0.01, with (anti)deuteron yields, (d) over bar /d = 0.47 +/- 0.03, we estimate that (n) over bar /n = 0.64 +/- 0.04. The nucleon phase space density is estimated from the coalescence measurement.
We present the results of phi meson production in the K+K- decay channel from Au+Au collisions at root s(NN) =200 GeV as measured at midrapidity by the PHENIX detector at Brookhaven National ...Laboratory's Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. Precision resonance centroid and width values are extracted as a function of collision centrality. No significant variation from the Particle Data Group accepted values is observed, contrary to some model predictions. The phi transverse mass spectra are fitted with a linear exponential function for which the derived inverse slope parameter is seen to be constant as a function of centrality. However, when these data are fitted by a hydrodynamic model the result is that the centrality-dependent freeze-out temperature and the expansion velocity values are consistent with the values previously derived from fitting identified charged hadron data. As a function of transverse momentum the collisions scaled peripheral-to-central yield ratio R-CP for the phi is comparable to that of pions rather than that of protons. This result lends support to theoretical models that distinguish between baryons and mesons instead of particle mass for explaining the anomalous (anti) proton yield.
The transverse momentum dependence of the azimuthal anisotropy parameter v(2), the second harmonic of the azimuthal distribution, for electrons at midrapidity (vertical bar eta vertical bar < 0.35) ...has been measured with the PHENIX detector in Au+Au collisions at root s(NN) = 200 GeV. The measurement was made with respect to the reaction plane defined at high rapidities (vertical bar eta vertical bar = 3.1-3.9). From the result we have measured the v(2) of electrons from heavy flavor decay after subtraction of the v(2) of electrons from other sources such as photon conversions and Dalitz decay from light neutral mesons. We observe a nonzero single electron v(2) with a 90% confidence level in the intermediate-p(T) region. The precision of the present data set does not permit us to conclude definitively that heavy quarks exhibit thermalization with the transverse flow of the bulk matter.
First results on charm quarkonia production in heavy ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) are presented. The yield of J/psi's measured in the PHENIX experiment via ...electron-positron decay pairs at midrapidity for Au-Au reactions at roots(NN) = 200 GeV is analyzed as a function of collision centrality. For this analysis we have studied 49.3x10(6) minimum bias Au-Au reactions. We present the J/psi invariant yield dN/dy for peripheral and midcentral reactions. For the most central collisions where we observe no signal above background, we quote 90% confidence level upper limits. We compare these results with our J/psi measurement from proton-proton reactions at the same energy. We find that our measurements are not consistent with models that predict strong enhancement relative to binary collision scaling.
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