Systematic Azimuth Quadrupole and Minijet Trends from Two-particle Correlations in Heavy-ion Collisions
Author: David Kettler
Publisher:
Published: 2013
Total Pages: 284
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKHeavy-ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) produce a tremendous amount of data but new techniques are necessary for a comprehensive understanding of the physics behind these collisions. We present measurements from the STAR detector of both p[sub]t-integral and p[sub]t-differential azimuth two-particle correlations on azimuth (ø) and pseudorapidity (n) for unidentified hadrons in Au-Au collisions at [squareroot [super]sNN=62 and 200 GeV. The azimuth correlations can be fit to extract a quadrupole component---related to conventional v_2 measures---and a same-side peak. Both p[sub]t-integral and p[sub]t-differential results are presented as functions of Au-Au centrality.We observe simple universal energy and centrality trends for the p[sub]t-integral quadrupole component. p[sub]t-differential results can be transformed to reveal quadropole p[sub]t spectra that are nearly independent of centrality. A parametrization of the p[sub]t-differential quadrupole shows a simple p[sub]t dependence that can be factorized from the centrality and collision energy dependence above 0.75 GeV/c. Observed trends seem to be in conflict with standard hydrodynamic theories. Angular correlations contain jet-like structure wit most-probable hadron momentum ~1 GeV/c. For better comparison to RHIC data we analyze the energy scale dependence of fragmentation functions from e+-e− collisions on rapidity y. The results in a parameterization of fragmentation functions that enables extrapolation to low Q in order to describe fragment distributions at low transverse momentum p[sub]t in heavy ion collisions. We convert measured minimum-bias jet-like angular correlations to single-particle hadron yields and compare them with patron fragment yields inferred from spectrum hard components. We find that jet-like correlations in central 200 GeV Au-Au collisions correspond quantitatively to pQCD predictions, and the jet-correlated hadron yield comprises one third of the Au-Au final state in central collisions. These observations conflict with the claims of "jet quenching" at RHIC.