High transverse momentum eta meson production in p+p, d+Au and Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV

Abstract

Inclusive transverse momentum spectra of eta mesons in the range p_T~2-12 GeV/c have been measured at mid-rapidity (|η| < 0,35) by the PHENIX experiment at RHIC in p+p, d+Au and Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV. The eta mesons are reconstructed through their eta--> γγchannel for the three colliding systems as well as through the eta-->pi^0 pi+ pi- decay mode in p+p and d+Au collisions. The nuclear modification factor in d+Au collisions, R_dAu(p_T~1.0-1.1, suggests at most only modest p_T broadening ("Cronin enhancement"). In central Au+Au reactions, the eta yields are significantly suppressed, with R_AuAu(pT)~0.2. The ratio of eta to pi^0 yields is approximately constant as a function of p_T for the three colliding systems in agreement with the high-p_T world average of R_eta/pi^0 \approx 0.5 in hadron-hadron, hadron-nucleus, and nucleus-nucleus collisions for a wide range of center-of-mass energies [sqrt(s_NN)~3-1800 GeV] as well as, for high scaled momentum x_p, in e+e- annihilations at sqrt(s)=91.2 GeV. These results are consistent with a scenario where high-p_T eta production in nuclear collisions at RHIC is largely unaffected by initial-state effects, but where light-quark mesons (pi^0;eta) are equally suppressed due to final-state interactions of the parent partons in the dense medium produced in Au+Au reactions.

391 authors, NN pages text, RevTeX4, figures, tables. Submitted to Physical Review 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

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• Common Suppression Pattern of eta and pi^0 Mesons at High Transverse Momentum in Au+Au Collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV
• Measurement of direct photon production in p + p collisions at sqrt(s) = 200 GeV
• Nuclear Effects on Hadron Production in d+Au and p+p Collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV
• Jet Properties from Dihadron Correlations in p+p Collisions at sqrt(s)=200 GeV
• Heavy Quarkonia and Quark Drip Lines in Quark-Gluon Plasma

Cited by in corpus (20)

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• Transverse Single-Spin Asymmetry and Cross-Section for pi0 and eta Mesons at Large Feynman-x in Polarized p+p Collisions at sqrt(s)=200 GeV
• Light Scalars and the KOTO Anomaly
• Global Analysis of Fragmentation Functions for Eta Mesons
• Di-electron spectrum at mid-rapidity in $p+p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}=200$ GeV
• Causal Viscous Hydrodynamics for Relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions
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• Centrality dependence of Lévy-stable two-pion Bose-Einstein correlations in $\sqrt{s_{{}_{NN}}}=200$ GeV Au$+$Au collisions
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