ϕ meson production in p+Al, p+Au, d+Au, and He3+Au collisions at sNN=200GeV

U Acharya,Y Corrales Morales,M I Nagy,R P Pisani,M Finger,C L Towell,W E Sondheim,R Cervantes,S D Rolnick,B Bannier,D Kleinjan,S Mizuno,I Nakagawa,K Tanida,Y I Makdisi,M Rosati,S F Pate,A Bazilevsky,C Mckinney,G David,K Sedgwick,P Montuenga,K Boyle,D P Morrison,N Feege,J D Orjuela Koop,M Grosse Perdekamp,B Mulilo,M Harvey,R Takahama,K Deblasio,J Bryslawskyj,Y Fukuda,Y Berdnikov,V Babintsev,K Kurita,M J Tannenbaum,D S Jumper,J Runchey,M J Leitch,N S Bandara,D E Fields,C P Singh,Y Watanabe,D Kotov,D K Mishra,S Zhou,I Ravinovich,J Sziklai,G J Ottino,D Larionova,V Canoa Roman,J Murata,S P Stoll,A Franz,T Hachiya,R Kitamura,D A Loomis,M Slunečka,A D Frawley,R Belmont,M Patel,Y Ueda,N Ramasubramanian,C A Ogilvie,R Seto,Y Akiba,B Azmoun,A Deshpande,R Seidl,T W Danley,T Koblesky,M Mitrankova,Iu Mitrankov,I J Choi,A Kingan,B Xia,S Esumi,I V Sourikova,A Durum,J S Haggerty,D Lynch,K Dehmelt,C Gal,P V Radzevich,S Kanda,A Taranenko,H Ge,M Wysocki,G Mitsuka,A Manion,V Doomra,A Yanovich,N Grau,A Iordanova,V Bumazhnov,A Mwai,M Alfred,R S Towell,A Drees,D Jouan,R Corliss,A Denisov,J G Lajoie,G Nukazuka,M Mendoza,S H Lee,K Nakano,V Papavassiliou,M Stepanov,J Hanks,T Hoshino,A Dion,J D Osborn,S Bathe,N N Ajitanand,T Sumita,K A Drees,T O S Haseler,M M Mondal,A Pun,W A Zajc,A V Kazantsev,A Berdnikov,J C Hill,M Beaumier,Z Rowan,I Shein,B Blankenship,B Kimelman,B M Johnson,V Andrieux,D Kawall,B K Schmoll,T Moon,P Kline,R S Hollis,T Majoros,M Sarsour,J L Nagle,D Isenhower,D Ivanishchev,M L Brooks,N Vukman,B Kurgyis,D Kapukchyan,K N Barish,I Tserruya,D Richford,T K Hemmick,B Fadem,H F Hamilton,P L Mcgaughey,M Chiu,K Imai,J Klatsky,T Todoroki,J H Kang,B Sahlmueller,E Kistenev,E J Desmond,S Beckman,R Pak,A Meles,H Nakagomi,A Sexton,T V Moukhanova,Y Goto,G Tarnai,I E Yushmanov,S Nelson,B Komkov,C Pinkenburg,J E Frantz,A Lebedev,W Peng,M Virius,N Apadula,N Novitzky,L Xue,A Adare,A Timilsina,N Hotvedt,A Enokizono,R Petti,P B Diss,M Jezghani,A Taketani,R A Soltz,C E Perezlara,R Pinson,G D N Perera,T Murakami,M Mccumber,L Bichon,M Tomášek,M Potekhin,Y Riabov,S Karthas,A Hodges,L Zou,H W Van Hecke,N Cronin,D Kincses,P W Stankus,C A Aidala ,A Öskarsson ,H Guragain,L Kovács ,Z Ji,S Hasegawa,X Jiang,A Glenn,M Connors,S Tarafdar,E Mannel,V Vrba,M Kurosawa,D Silvermyr,Z Wang,J Huang,J M Durham,P Garg,G W Kim,T Csörgõ ,C J Xu ,Z Shi,M L Purschke,S Y Han,V Samsonov,T Nagashima,Hiroshi Yamamoto ,Ashraf Mohamed ,A K Mohanty,M Makek,Jeongsu Bok ,A White ,S Lee,P Gallus,Qingyang Xu ,J Choi ,C T Dean,Y Yamaguchi ,A C Mignerey,C.-H Chen,V Manko ,S Yalcin,D J Kim,K F Read,P K Netrakanti,Dhruv Utpalkumar Dixit ,H Yu,T Sugitate,Y Kwon,J Rak,M Daugherity ,N Saito,Y H Leung,X R Wang,D Reynolds,D Sharma,N A Lewis,M Snowball,A M Sickles ,Mei Bai ,K K Hill ,J.-C Peng,X Li,S Greene ,J Oh,M Kim,Z Sun,A Zelenski,Masayuki Shibata ,H Sako,M Giles,P Shukla,C Woody ,B Ujvári ,M Orosz,J Perry,S Miyasaka,C P Wong,D S Fitzgerald ,Susumu Sato ,V Riabov,Soren Pontoppidan Sorensen ,V K Singh ,J S Park,A Khatiwada,C L Silva,D Blau ,C Nattrass,K Homma,E.-J Kim,K I Hahn,K Nagai,T A Shibata ,S Park,H Asano,A Milov,H En’yo ,K Smith ,V Pantuev,J Rubin ,А Суханов ,J Velkovska,T Novák,Timothy Thomas Rinn ,A Nyanin ,J Yoo ,K Lovász ,T Sakaguchi,T Kim,T Niida,A Sen,B Hong,C Y ,D V Perepelitsa,V.s Borisov ,V.-R Loggins,P Sett,R Nouicer,K Ozawa,M X Liu,K Shigaki,S Kudo,T Chujo,R Tieulent,C Kim,R Esha,B K Singh,J T Mitchell,S Lökòs ,K Nagashima,T Shioya,J Sun,Z H Citron ,S Campbell,J A Key,A Datta,Wei Fang ,M Inaba,A Safonov ,D Yu Peressounko,F Giordano,T Gunji,X He,K Hashimoto,S Fokin ,W Fan,B Ramson ,D Firak,S Nishimura,I Yoon,D Mcglinchey,M Shimomura,J H ,A Khanzadeev,Sanghoon Lim ,V Khachatryan,H Hamagaki,B Jacak ,M Csanád,M W Phipps ,E O’brien ,B Schaefer

doi:10.1103/physrevc.106.014908

Abstract

Small nuclear collisions are mainly sensitive to cold-nuclear-matter effects; however, the collective behavior observed in these collisions shows a hint of hot-nuclear-matter effects. The identified-particle spectra, especially the $\phi$ mesons which contain strange and antistrange quarks and have a relatively small hadronic-interaction cross section, are a good tool to study these effects. The PHENIX experiment has measured $\phi$ mesons in a specific set of small collision systems $p$$+$Al, $p$$+$Au, and $^3$He$+$Au, as well as $d$$+$Au [Phys. Rev. C {\bf 83}, 024909 (2011)], at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=200$ GeV. The transverse-momentum spectra and nuclear-modification factors are presented and compared to theoretical-model predictions. The comparisons with different calculations suggest that quark-gluon plasma may be formed in these small collision systems at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=200$ GeV. However, the volume and the lifetime of the produced medium may be insufficient for observing strangeness-enhancement and jet-quenching effects. Comparison with calculations suggests that the main production mechanisms of $\phi$ mesons at midrapidity may be different in $p$$+$Al versus $p/d/$$^3$He$+$Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=200$ GeV. While thermal quark recombination seems to dominate in $p/d/$$^3$He$+$Au collisions, fragmentation seems to be the main production mechanism in $p$$+$Al collisions.

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