Identified hadron compositions in p+p and Au+Au collisions at high transverse momenta at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}} = 200$ GeV

Abstract

We report transverse momentum ($p_{T} \leq15$ GeV/$c$) spectra of $π^{\pm}$, $K^{\pm}$, $p$, $\bar{p}$, $K_{S}^{0}$, and $ρ^{0}$ at mid-rapidity in p+p and Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}$ = 200 GeV. Perturbative QCD calculations are consistent with $π^{\pm}$ spectra in p+p collisions but do not reproduce $K$ and $p(\bar{p})$ spectra. The observed decreasing antiparticle-to-particle ratios with increasing $p_T$ provide experimental evidence for varying quark and gluon jet contributions to high-$p_T$ hadron yields. The relative hadron abundances in Au+Au at $p_{T}{}^{>}_{\sim}8$ GeV/$c$ are measured to be similar to the p+p results, despite the expected Casimir effect for parton energy loss.