Centrality categorization for R_{p(d)+A} in high-energy collisions

Abstract

High-energy proton- and deuteron-nucleus collisions provide an excellent tool for studying a wide array of physics effects, including modifications of parton distribution functions in nuclei, gluon saturation, and color neutralization and hadronization in a nuclear environment, among others. All of these effects are expected to have a significant dependence on the size of the nuclear target and the impact parameter of the collision, also known as the collision centrality. In this article, we detail a method for determining centrality classes in p(d)+A collisions via cuts on the multiplicity at backward rapidity (i.e., the nucleus-going direction) and for determining systematic uncertainties in this procedure. For d+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV we find that the connection to geometry is confirmed by measuring the fraction of events in which a neutron from the deuteron does not interact with the nucleus. As an application, we consider the nuclear modification factors R_{p(d)+A}, for which there is a potential bias in the measured centrality dependent yields due to auto-correlations between the process of interest and the backward rapidity multiplicity. We determine the bias correction factor within this framework. This method is further tested using the HIJING Monte Carlo generator. We find that for d+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV, these bias corrections are small and vary by less than 5% (10%) up to p_T = 10 (20) GeV. In contrast, for p+Pb collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 5.02 TeV we find these bias factors are an order of magnitude larger and strongly p_T dependent, likely due to the larger effect of multi-parton interactions.

375 authors, 18 pages, 16 figures, 4 tables. Submitted to Phys. Rev. C. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.html

References in corpus (6)

• Glauber Modeling in High Energy Nuclear Collisions
• EPS09 - a New Generation of NLO and LO Nuclear Parton Distribution Functions
• Observation of long-range near-side angular correlations in proton-lead collisions at the LHC
• Constraining MPI models using sigma_effective and recent Tevatron and LHC Underlying Event data
• Centrality dependence of charged hadron production in deuteron+gold and nucleon+gold collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV
• p-Pb Results from ALICE with an Emphasis on Centrality Determination

Cited by in corpus (66)

• Creating small circular, elliptical, and triangular droplets of quark-gluon plasma
• Small System Collectivity in Relativistic Hadron and Nuclear Collisions
• Centrality dependence of particle production in p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}$= 5.02 TeV
• Review of Jet Measurements in Heavy Ion Collisions
• Measurement of long-range angular correlation and quadrupole anisotropy of pions and (anti)protons in central $d$$+$Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{{}_{NN}}}$=200 GeV
• Measurements of elliptic and triangular flow in high-multiplicity ${}^3$He$+$Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{{}_{NN}}}=200$ GeV
• Hadron yields and the phase diagram of strongly interacting matter
• Collectivity and electromagnetic radiation in small systems
• Observation of the critical end point in the phase diagram for hot and dense nuclear matter
• Transverse energy production and charged-particle multiplicity at midrapidity in various systems from $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=7.7$ to 200 GeV
• Constraints on jet quenching in p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{{\mathbf{s}}_{\mathbf{NN}}}$ = 5.02 TeV measured by the event-activity dependence of semi-inclusive hadron-jet distributions
• Absence of jet quenching in peripheral nucleus-nucleus collisions
• $Z$ boson production in $p+$Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=5.02$ TeV measured with the ATLAS detector
• Progress in the Glauber model at collider energies
• Centrality-dependent modification of jet-production rates in deuteron-gold collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$=200 GeV
• Measurement of long-range angular correlations and azimuthal anisotropies in high-multiplicity $p$$+$Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{{}_{NN}}}=200$ GeV
• Diffractive and non-diffractive wounded nucleons and final states in pA collisions
• Pseudorapidity dependence of particle production and elliptic flow in asymmetric nuclear collisions of $p$$+$Al, $p$$+$Au, $d$$+$Au, and ${}^3$He$+$Au at $\sqrt{s_{{}_{NN}}}=200$ GeV
• Measurements of azimuthal anisotropy and charged-particle multiplicity in $d$$+$Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{{}_{NN}}}=$200, 62.4, 39, and 19.6 GeV
• Measurement of inclusive jet production and nuclear modifications in pPb collisions at sqrt(s[NN]) = 5.02 TeV
• The 3D structure of anisotropic flow in small collision systems at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider
• Initial-state cold nuclear matter energy loss effects on inclusive jet production in p+A collisions at RHIC and LHC
• Measurements of mass-dependent azimuthal anisotropy in central $p$$+$Au, $d$$+$Au, and ${}^3$He$+$Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{{}_{NN}}}=200$ GeV
• Forward-backward multiplicity fluctuation and longitudinal harmonics in high-energy nuclear collisions
• Neutron skin and centrality classification in high-energy heavy-ion collisions at the LHC
• Measurement of D-meson production versus multiplicity in p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=5.02$ TeV
• Global analysis of color fluctuation effects in proton- and deuteron-nucleus collisions at RHIC and the LHC
• QCD Challenges from pp to A-A Collisions
• Measurement of $J/\psi$ at forward and backward rapidity in $p$+$p$, $p$$+A$l, $p$$+A$u, and ${}^3$He+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{{}_{NN}}}=200\mathrm{GeV}$
• Nuclear-modification factor of charged hadrons at forward and backward rapidity in $p$$+$Al and $p$$+$Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{{}_{NN}}}=200$ GeV
• Single-spin asymmetry of $J/\psi$ production in $p$$+$$p$, $p$$+$Al, and $p$$+$Au collisions with transversely polarized proton beams at $\sqrt{s_{{}_{NN}}}=200$ GeV
• Strong constraints on jet quenching in centrality-dependent $p$+Pb collisions at 5.02 TeV from ATLAS
• Centrality dependence of high energy jets in p+Pb collisions at the LHC
• Cross section for $b\bar{b}$ production via dielectrons in d$+$Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{{}_{NN}}}=200$ GeV
• Influence of electromagnetic fields in proton-nucleus collisions at relativistic energy
• A simple model for rapidity fluctuations in the initial state of ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions
• Consequences of high-$x$ proton size fluctuations in small collision systems at RHIC
• Measurement of the dependence of transverse energy production at large pseudorapidity on the hard-scattering kinematics of proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=2.76$ TeV with ATLAS
• Nuclear dependence of the transverse single-spin asymmetry in the production of charged hadrons at forward rapidity in polarized $p+p$, $p+$Al, and $p+$Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{{}_{NN}}}=200$ GeV
• $\varphi$ meson production in $d$$+$Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{{}_{NN}}}=200$ GeV
• Measurement of $\varphi$-meson production in Cu$+$Au at $\sqrt{s_{{}_{NN}}}=200$ GeV and U$+$U at $\sqrt{s_{{}_{NN}}}=193$ GeV
• Disentangling centrality bias and final-state effects in the production of high-$p_T$ ${\pi }^0$ using direct $\gamma$ in $d$$+$Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{{}_{NN}}}=200$ GeV
• Contribution to differential ${\pi }^0$ and ${\gamma }_{\mathrm{dir}}$ modification in small systems from color fluctuation effects
• Study of $\varphi$-meson production in $p$$+$Al, $p$$+$Au, $d$$+$Au, and ${}^3$He$+$Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{{}_{NN}}}=200$ GeV
• Measurement of emission angle anisotropy via long-range angular correlations with high $p_T$ hadrons in $d$$+$Au and $p$$+$$p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s_{{}_{NN}}}=200$ GeV
• Identified charged-hadron production in $p$$+$Al, ${}^3$He$+$Au, and Cu$+$Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{{}_{NN}}}=200$ GeV and in U$+$U collisions at $\sqrt{s_{{}_{NN}}}=193$ GeV
• Review of nonflow estimation methods and uncertainties in relativistic heavy-ion collisions
• Nonperturbative transverse momentum broadening in dihadron angular correlations in $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV proton-nucleus collisions
• Checking Non-Flow Assumptions and Results via PHENIX Published Correlations in $p$$+$$p$, $p$$+$Au, $d$$+$Au, ${}^3$He$+$Au at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV
• Azimuthal-sensitive three-dimensional HBT radius in Au-Au collisions at $E_{beam}=1.23$$A$ GeV by the IQMD model
• Evidence for similar collectivity of high transverse momentum particles in pPb and PbPb collisions
• Selection bias effects on high-$p_{\mathrm{T}}$ yield and correlation measurements in Oxygen+Oxygen collisions
• Experimental Results on p(d)+A Collisions at RHIC and the LHC
• Description of di-hadron saturation signals within a universal nuclear parton distribution function approach
• Charged-particle multiplicity and transverse-energy distribution using the Weibull-Glauber approach in heavy-ion collisions
• Collisional and radiative energy loss in small systems
• Measurement of the transverse energy density in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV with the sPHENIX detector
• Spatially dependent parton distribution functions and hard processes in nuclear collisions
• Azimuthal Correlation Anisotropies in p + p Collisions Simulated by Pythia
• Hard processes in small systems
• Jets and Centrality in p(d)-A Collisions
• Nucleon-Gold Collisions at 200 AGeV Using Tagged d+Au Interactions in PHOBOS
• Leading Hadron Production in $d$+Au and ${}^3$He+Au collisions in the PHENIX experiment
• Nonperturbative factorization breaking and color entanglement effects in dihadron and direct photon-hadron angular correlations in $p$$+$$p$ and $p$$+$A collisions
• Systematic study of nuclear effects in $p$$+$Al, $p$$+$Au, $d$$+$Au, and ${}^3$He$+$Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{{}_{NN}}}=200$ GeV using ${\pi }^0$ production
• Particle production in p-Pb collisions with ALICE at the LHC