Inclusive transverse momentum spectra of eta mesons have been measured within p(T)=2-10 GeV/c at midrapidity by the PHENIX experiment in Au+Au collisions at root s(NN) = 200 GeV. In central Au+Au the ...eta yields are significantly suppressed compared to peripheral Au+Au, d+Au, and p+p yields scaled by the corresponding number of nucleon-nucleon collisions. The magnitude, centrality, and p(T) dependence of the suppression is common, within errors, for eta and pi(0). The ratio of eta to pi(0) spectra at high p(T) amounts to 0.40 < R-eta/pi(0)< 0.48 for the three systems, in agreement with the world average measured in hadronic and nuclear reactions and, at large scaled momentum, in e(+)e(-) collisions.
The anisotropy parameter (v(2)), the second harmonic of the azimuthal particle distribution, has been measured with the PHENIX detector in Au+Au collisions at roots(NN)=200 GeV for identified and ...inclusive charged particle production at central rapidities (eta<0.35) with respect to the reaction plane defined at high rapidities (eta=3-4 ). We observe that the v(2) of mesons falls below that of (anti)baryons for p(T)>2 GeV/c, in marked contrast to the predictions of a hydrodynamical model. A quark-coalescence model is also investigated.
The PHENIX experiment has measured midrapidity transverse momentum spectra (0.4<p(T)<4.0 GeV/c) of single electrons as a function of centrality in Au+Au collisions at roots(NN) = 200 GeV. ...Contributions from photon conversions and Dalitz decays of light neutral mesons are measured by introducing a thin (1.7% X-0) converter into the PHENIX acceptance and are statistically removed. The subtracted nonphotonic electron spectra are primarily due to the semileptonic decays of hadrons containing heavy quarks, mainly charm at lower p(T). For all centralities, the charm production cross section is found to scale with the nuclear overlap function, T-AA. For minimum-bias collisions the charm cross section per binary collision is N-c (c) over bar/T-AA=622+/-57(stat)+/-160(syst) mub.
Transverse momentum spectra of neutral pions in the range 1<p(T)<10 GeV/c have been measured at midrapidity by the PHENIX experiment at BNL RHIC in Au+Au collisions at roots(NN)=200 GeV. The pi(0) ...multiplicity in central reactions is significantly below the yields measured at the same roots(NN) in peripheral Au+Au and p+p reactions scaled by the number of nucleon-nucleon collisions. For the most central bin, the suppression factor is similar to2.5 at p(T)=2 GeV/c and increases to similar to4-5 at p(T)approximate to4 GeV/c. At larger p(T), the suppression remains constant within errors. The deficit is already apparent in semiperipheral reactions and increases smoothly with centrality.
π−π−π− correlations from Pb+Pb collisions at 158 GeV/c per nucleon are presented as measured by the focusing spectrometer of the NA44 experiment at CERN. The three-body effect is found to be stronger ...for Pb+Pb than for S+Pb. The two-dimensional three-particle correlation function is also measured and the longitudinal extension of the source is larger than the transverse extension.
Two-particle interferometry of positive kaons is studied in Pb+Pb collisions at mean transverse momenta <p(T)> approximately 0.25 and 0.91 GeV/c. A three-dimensional analysis was applied to the lower ...p(T) data, while a two-dimensional analysis was used for the higher p(T) data. We find that the source-size parameters are consistent with the m(T) scaling curve observed in pion-correlation measurements in the same collisions, and that the duration time of kaon emission is consistent with zero within the experimental sensitivity.