Abstract
The NA61/SHINE experiment at the CERN SPS pursues a rich program of strong interactions. The main physics goals of this program are the study of properties of the onset of deconfinement and search for the signatures of the critical point of strongly interacting matter by performing the two-dimensional scan in a broad region of energy (beam momentum 13A-158A GeV/c) and system size (p+p, Be+Be, Ar+Sc and Xe+La). Recent NA61/SHINE results on particle spectra and event-by-event fluctuations in p+p, Be+Be and Ar+Sc collisions are shown with emphasis on the measurements of particle ratios, namely of pion a strangeness production, multiplicity fluctuations versus energy and the system size of colliding nuclei. It will be shown that the hadron production properties in heavy ion collisions which change rapidly in the low SPS energy domain and are interpreted as the beginning of quark-gluon plasma production – onset of deconfinement could be also the case in inelastic p+p interactions and probably in Be+Be collisions. The paper presents a selection of NA61/SHINE results on particle production properties discussed together with existing data from the NA49 collaboration. The evolution of non-monotonic structures in the pion and strangeness production as a function of the system size and energy is addressed. The rapid change of hadron production properties from p+p and Be+Be up to Ar+Sc and Pb+Pb collisions can be interpreted as the beginning of the large clusters formation of strongly interacting matter - the onset of fireball. The NA61/SHINE strong interaction programme is presented including the recent status on proton intermittency analysis and strongly intensive fluctuation observables of particle multiplicity and transverse momentum.
Highlights
Exploration of predicted prominent features of the phase diagram of strongly interacting matter, the deconfinement phase transition from hadrons to a system of quasi-free quarks and gluons (QGP) and quest for the critical point is the primary goal of a number of contemporary experiments, developing projects and numerous theoretical investigations.The main goal of the strong interaction program NA61/SHINE is to search for the critical point of strongly interacting matter (CP) and study the properties of the onset of deconfinemet
The NA61/SHINE Collaboration at CERN Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) pursues this challenging program performing a two-dimensional scan in a broad region of the QCD phase diagram by varying the momentum (13A-158A GeV/c) and the size of colliding systems (p+p, Be+Be, Ar+Sc, Xe+La and Pb+Pb)
A two-dimensional scan of the QCD phase diagram of strongly interacting matter has been conducted by NA61/SHINE in a wide region of the energy and the mass number of colliding nuclei
Summary
Exploration of predicted prominent features of the phase diagram of strongly interacting matter, the deconfinement phase transition from hadrons to a system of quasi-free quarks and gluons (QGP) and quest for the critical point is the primary goal of a number of contemporary experiments, developing projects and numerous theoretical investigations. The main goal of the strong interaction program NA61/SHINE is to search for the critical point of strongly interacting matter (CP) and study the properties of the onset of deconfinemet. A tantalizing hint on the CP indication has been observed by NA49 experiment for the medium-size nuclei at the top SPS energy. It motivated the physics program of strongly interacting matter. It is expected that there will be a non-monotonic dependence of hadron production properties, in particular fluctuations of a number of observables on the energy and system size in this scan due to the phase transition of strongly interacting matter and possible existence of the CP [3]. Some possible indication of this behaviour has already been observed by the NA49 experiment [4]
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