Kaon and pion production in central Au + Au collisions at sqrt(sNN) = 62.4 GeV

I. C. Arsene, I. G. Bearden, D. Beavis, S. Bekele, C. Besliu, B. Budick, H. Bøggild, C. Chasman, C. H. Christensen, P. Christiansen, H. H. Dalsgaard, R. Debbe, J. J. Gaardhøje, K. Hagel, H. Ito, A. Jipa, E. B. Johnson, C. E. Jørgensen, R. Karabowicz, N. KatrynskaE. J. Kim, T. M. Larsen, J. H. Lee, G. Løvhøiden, Z. Majka, M. J. Murray, J. Natowitz, B. S. Nielsen, C. Nygaard, D. Pal, A. Qviller, F. Rami, C. Ristea, O. Ristea, D. Röhrich, S. J. Sanders, P. Staszel, T. S. Tveter, F. Videbæk, R. Wada, H. Yang, Z. Yin, I. S. Zgura

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    Invariant pT spectra and rapidity densities covering a large rapidity range (- 0.1 < y < 3.5) are presented for π± and K± mesons from central Au + Au collisions at sqrt(sNN) = 62.4 GeV. The mid-rapidity yields of meson particles relative to their anti-particles are found to be close to unity (π- / π+ ∼ 1, K- / K+ ∼ 0.85) while the anti-proton to proton ratio is over(p, ̄) / p ∼ 0.49. The rapidity dependence of the π- / π+ ratio is consistent with a small increase towards forward rapidities while the K- / K+ and over(p, ̄) / p ratios show a steep decrease to ∼0.3 for kaons and 0.022 for protons at y ∼ 3. It is observed that the kaon production relative to its own anti-particle as well as to pion production in wide rapidity and energy ranges shows an apparent universal behavior consistent with the baryo-chemical potential, as deduced from the over(p, ̄) / p ratio, being the driving parameter.

    Original languageEnglish (US)
    Pages (from-to)36-41
    Number of pages6
    JournalPhysics Letters, Section B: Nuclear, Elementary Particle and High-Energy Physics
    Volume687
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    StatePublished - Apr 5 2010

    Keywords

    • Baryon chemical potential
    • Heavy ion collisions
    • Strangeness enhancement

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Nuclear and High Energy Physics

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Kaon and pion production in central Au + Au collisions at sqrt(sNN) = 62.4 GeV'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this