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Lijuan Ruan

Publications and source records attributed to Lijuan Ruan.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2024

Properties of the QCD Matter -- An Experimental Review of Selected Results from RHIC BES Program

In the paper, we discuss the development of the multi-gap resistive plate chamber Time-of-Flight (TOF) technology and the production of the STAR TOF detector in China at the beginning of the 21st century. Then we review recent experimental results from the first beam energy scan program (BES-I) at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). Topics cover measurements of collectivity, chirality, criticality, global polarization, strangeness, heavy-flavor, di-lepton and light nuclei productions.

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arXiv2023

Energy Dependence of the Breit-Wheeler process in Heavy-Ion Collisions and its Application to Nuclear Charge Radius Measurements

The collision energy dependence of the cross section and the transverse momentum distribution of dielectrons from the Breit-Wheeler process in heavy-ion collisions are computed in the lowest-order QED and found to be sensitive to the nuclear charge distribution and the infrared-divergence of the ultra-Lorentz boosted Coulomb field. Within a given experimental kinematic acceptance, the cross section is found to increase while the pair transverse momentum ($\sqrt{\langle p_{T}^{2} \rangle}$) decreases with increasing beam energy. We demonstrate that the transverse-momentum component of Weizsacker-Williams photons is due to the finite extent of the charge source and electric field component in the longitudinal direction. We further clarify the connection between the nuclear charge distribution and the kinematics of produced $e^+e^-$ from the Breit-Wheeler process, and propose a criterion for the validity of the Breit-Wheeler process in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Following this approach we demonstrate that the experimental measurements of the Breit-Wheeler process in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions can be used to quantitatively constrain the nuclear charge radius. The extracted parameters show sensitivity to the impact parameter dependence, and can be used to study the initial-state and final-state effects in hadronic interactions.

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arXiv2022

Search for Dark Photons in $γγ\rightarrow e^+e^-$ at RHIC

The fundamental nature of Dark Matter remains one of the major mysteries of modern physics. Some models postulate the existence of a massive gauge boson, a "dark photon" ($A^\prime$), that may allow Dark Matter particles to interact with Standard Model particles. Ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions produce highly Lorentz-contracted electromagnetic fields with sufficient energy density to potentially manifest as light dark photons. We report limits on dark photon parameters via a search for anomalous production of $e^+e^-$ pairs in $γA^\prime$ and $A^\prime A^\prime$ fusion from ultra-peripheral $\rm{Au}+\rm{Au}$ collisions. This study utilizes measurements of the Breit-Wheeler process ($γγ\rightarrow e^+e^-$) carried out by STAR, specifically making use of polarization-dependent final-state azimuthal asymmetries in $e^+e^-$ pairs. These limits are informative for future searches in the ultra-peripheral heavy-ion collisions and to constrain future theoretical developments of the dark photon mechanism.

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arXiv2020

Exploring the double-slit interference with linearly polarized photons

The linearly polarized quasi-real photons from the highly Lorentz-contracted Coulomb fields of relativistic heavy ions can fluctuate to quark-antiquark pairs, scatter off a target nucleus and emerge as vector mesons. In the process, the two colliding nuclei can switch roles to act as photon emitter or target, forming a double-slit interference pattern. The product from photoproduction inherits the photon polarization states, leading to the asymmetries of the decay angular distributions. In this letter, we study the interference effect in polarization dimension from the asymmetries of the decay angular distributions for photoprodution in heavy-ion collisions and find a periodic oscillation with the transverse momentum of vector meson, which could reasonably explain the transverse momentum dependence of the 2nd-order modulation in azimuth for the $ρ^{0}$ decay observed by the STAR collaboration.

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arXiv2020

Acoplanarity of QED pairs accompanied by nuclear dissociation in ultra-peripheral heavy ion collisions

This paper investigates the transverse momentum broadening effect for electromagnetic production of dileptons in ultra-peripheral heavy ion collisions accompanied by nuclear dissociation. The electromagnetic dissociation probability of nuclei for different neutron multiplicities is estimated, which could serve as a centrality definition (i.e. impact parameter estimate) in ultra-peripheral collisions. In the framework of lowest-order QED, the acoplanarity of dilepton pairs is calculated for different neutron emission scenarios in ultra-peripheral collisions, indicating significant impact-parameter dependence. The verification of impact-parameter dependence is crucially important to understand the broadening effect observed in hadronic heavy-ion collisions.

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arXiv2018

Photoproduction of J/$ψ$ in non-single-diffractive p+p collisions

Recently, significant enhancements of J/$ψ$ production at very low transverse momenta were observed by the ALICE and STAR collaboration in peripheral hadronic A+A collisions. The anomaly excesses point to evidence of coherent photon-nucleus interactions in violent hadronic heavy-ion collisions, which were conventionally studied only in ultra-peripheral collisions. Assuming that the coherent photoproduction is the underlying mechanism which is responsible for the excess observed in peripheral A+A collisions, its contribution in p+p collisions with nuclear overlap, i.e. non-single-diffractive collisions, is of particular interest. In this paper, we perform a calculation of exclusive J/$ψ$ photoproduction in non-single-diffractive p+p collisions at RHIC and LHC energies base on the pQCD motivated parametrization from world-wide experimental data, which could be further employed to improve the precision of phenomenal calculations for photoproduction in A+A collisions. The differential rapidity and transverse momentum distributions of J/$ψ$ from photoproduction are presented. In comparison with the J/$ψ$ production from hadronic interactions, we find that the contribution of photoproduction is negligible.

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arXiv2018

Double-slit experiment at fermi scale: coherent photoproduction in heavy-ion collisions

The double-slit experiment has become a classic thought experiment, for its clarity in expressing the central puzzle of quantum mechanics -- wave-particle complementarity. Such wave-particle duality continues to be challenged and investigated in a broad range of entities with electrons, neutrons, helium atoms, C$_{60}$ fullerenes, Bose-Einstein condensates and biological molecules. All existing experiments are performed with the scale larger than angstrom. In this article, we present a double-slit scenario at fermi scale with new entities -- coherent photon products in heavy-ion collisions. Virtual photons from the electromagnetic fields of relativistic heavy ions can fluctuate to quark-antiquark pairs, scatter off a target nucleus and emerge as vector mesons. The two colliding nuclei can take turns to act as targets, forming a double-slit interference pattern. Furthermore, the `which-way' information can be partially solved by the violent strong interactions in the proposed scenario, which demonstrates a key concept of quantum mechanics -- complementary principle.

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arXiv2018

Coherent photo-produced J$/ψ$ and dielectron yields in isobaric collisions

Recently, significant enhancements of J/$ψ$ and $e^{+} e^{-}$ pair production at very low transverse momenta were observed by the STAR and ALICE collaboration in peripheral hadronic A+A collisions. The anomaly excesses point to evidence of coherent photon-nucleus and photon-photon interactions in violent hadronic heavy-ion collisions, which were conventionally studied only in ultra-peripheral collisions. The isobaric collisions performed at RHIC provides a unique opportunity to test the existence of coherent photon products in hadronic heavy-ion collisions. The idea is that the possible production of coherent photon products is significantly different in different collision systems due to the variations in their charge and nuclear density distributions. In this letter, we focus on the peripheral collisions and provide theoretical predictions for coherent production of J/$ψ$ and dielectron in isobaric collisions. We show that the expected yields differ significantly to perform the experimental test.

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arXiv2015

Systematic study of the experimental measurements on $J/ψ$ cross section and kinematic distribution in $p+p$ collisions at different energies

The world experimental data on cross section and kinematic distribution in $p+p$ and $p+A$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 6.8 - 7000 GeV are examined in systematic way. The $\sqrt{s}$ dependence of the inclusive cross section, rapidity and transverse momentum distributions are studied phenomenologically. We explore empirical formulas to obtain the total cross section, rapidity and transverse momentum ($p_{T}$) distribution. This is crucial for the interpretation of A$+$A $J/ψ$ results at RHIC when the $p+p$ reference data are not available. In addition, the cross section at mid-rapidity and transverse momentum distributions in $p+p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 39 and 62.4 GeV are evaluated.

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arXiv2014

Onset of radial flow in p+p collisions

It has been debated for decades whether hadrons emerging from p+p collisions exhibit collective expansion. The signal of the collective motion in p+p collisions is not as clear/clean as in heavy-ion collisions because of the low multiplicity and large fluctuation in p+p collisions. Tsallis Blast-Wave (TBW) model is a thermodynamic approach, introduced to handle the overwhelming correlation and fluctuation in the hadronic processes. We have systematically studied the identified particle spectra in p+p collisions from RHIC to LHC using TBW and found no appreciable radial flow in p+p collisions below $\sqrt{s}=900$ GeV. At LHC higher energy of 7 TeV in p+p collisions, the radial flow velocity achieves an average value of $<β>= 0.320\pm0.005$. This flow velocity is comparable to that in peripheral (40-60%) Au+Au collisions at RHIC. Breaking of the identified particle spectra $m_T$ scaling was also observed at LHC from a model independent test.

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arXiv2013

Systematic study of the experimental measurements on ratios of different $Υ$ states

The world data on yields and ratios of different $Υ$ states created in hadron collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 19-8000$ GeV are examined in systematic way. We find that $Υ(2S)/Υ(1S)=0.275\pm0.005$ and $Υ(3S)/Υ(1S)=0.128\pm0.004$. No signficant energy dependence of these ratios are observed within the broad collision energies. In addition, the rapidity, transverse momentum, and transverse mass dependence of these ratios are also reported.

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arXiv2012

The di-lepton physics program at STAR

The recent results on di-electron production in $p+p$ and Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}} = 200$ GeV are presented. The cocktail simulations of di-electrons from light and heavy flavor hadron decays are reported and compared with data. The perspectives for di-lepton measurements in lower energy Au+Au collisions and with future detector upgrades are discussed.

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arXiv2011

Hadronic Trigger using electromagnetic calorimeter and particle identification at high-pT with STAR Detector

We derive a new method to improve the statistics of identified particles at high transverse momentum (\pt) using online-triggered events by the Barrel Electro-Magnetic-Calorimeter (BEMC) detector. The BEMC is used to select hadronic interaction and energy deposit from showers created by charged hadrons ($π^{\pm},K^{\pm}$ and $p$($\bar{p}$)) in the BEMC. With this trigger, the statistics of the high \pt particles are significantly enhanced by about a factor of 100 with selection efficiency up to 20%. In addition, resonant states ($ρ^0$, $K^{\star}$) and weak-decay V0 (\Ks and \La(\aLa)) can be constructed by selecting the BEMC-trigger hadron as one of its daughters. We also show that the trigger efficiency can be obtained reliably in simulation and data-driven approaches.

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arXiv2011

Statistical Origin of Constituent-Quark Scaling in the QGP hadronization

Nonextensive statistics in a Blast-Wave model (TBW) is implemented to describe the identified hadron production in relativistic p+p and nucleus-nucleus collisions. Incorporating the core and corona components within the TBW formalism allows us to describe simultaneously some of the major observations in hadronic observables at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC): the Number of Constituent Quark Scaling (NCQ), the large radial and elliptic flow, the effect of gluon saturation and the suppression of hadron production at high transverse momentum (pT) due to jet quenching. In this formalism, the NCQ scaling at RHIC appears as a consequence of non-equilibrium process. Our study also provides concise reference distributions with a least chi2 fit of the available experimental data for future experiments and models.

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arXiv2010

RHIC physics overview

The results from data taken during the last several years at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC) will be reviewed in the paper. Several selected topics that further our understanding of constituent quark scaling, jet quenching and color screening effect of heavy quarkonia in the hot dense medium will be presented. Detector upgrades will further probe the properties of Quark Gluon Plasma. Future measurements with upgraded detectors will be presented. The discovery perspectives from future measurements will also be discussed.

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