arXiv subjects

M. Gazdzicki

Publications and source records attributed to M. Gazdzicki.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Proposal from the NA61/SHINE Collaboration for update of European Strategy for Particle Physics

Building on the current program's success and driven by new physics challenges, the NA61/SHINE Collaboration proposes to continue measuring hadron production properties in reactions induced by hadron and ion beams after CERN Long Shutdown 3. These measurements are of significant interest to the heavy-ion, cosmic-ray, and neutrino physics communities and will focus on: - Investigating hadron production in the light-ion systems to explore the diagram of high-energy nuclear collisions, and to obtain new insight into the unexpected violation of isospin (flavor) symmetry recently observed by the experiment; - Measuring charm-anticharm correlations to gain unique insights into the production locality of charm and anticharm quark pairs; - Examining strangeness and multi-strangeness production to improve our understanding of the early Universe's evolution and neutron star formation; - Measuring cross sections relevant for cosmic-ray measurements, significantly boosting searches for new physics in our Galaxy; - Conducting hadron production measurements with proton, pion, and kaon beams for neutrino physics, enhancing the precision of hadron production data needed for initial neutrino flux predictions in neutrino oscillation experiments; - Measuring hadron production processes relevant for understanding the flux of atmospheric neutrinos, as well as neutrinos and muons from spallation sources. To achieve these objectives, a detector upgrade and a beam upgrade are required, with data-taking planned for the period 2029-2032 and beyond.

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arXiv2025

Evidence of isospin-symmetry violation in high-energy collisions of atomic nuclei

Strong interactions preserve an approximate isospin symmetry between up ($u$) and down ($d$) quarks, part of the more general flavor symmetry. In the case of $K$ meson production, if this isospin symmetry were exact, it would result in equal numbers of charged ($K^+$ and $K^-$) and neutral ($K^0$ and $\overline K^{\,0}$) mesons in the final state. Here, we report results on the relative abundance of charged over neutral $K$ meson production in argon and scandium nuclei collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 11.9 GeV per nucleon pair. We find that the production of $K^+$ and $K^-$ mesons at mid-rapidity is $(18.4\pm 6.1)\%$ higher than that of the neutral $K$ mesons. Although with large uncertainties, earlier data on nucleus-nucleus collisions in the collision center-of-mass energy range $2.6 < \sqrt{s_{NN}} < 200$~\GeV are consistent with the present result. Using well-established models for hadron production, we demonstrate that known isospin-symmetry breaking effects and the initial nuclei containing more neutrons than protons lead only to a small (few percent) deviation of the charged-to-neutral kaon ratio from unity at high energies. Thus, they cannot explain the measurements. The significance of the flavor-symmetry violation beyond the known effects is 4.7$σ$ when the compilation of world data with uncertainties quoted by the experiments is used. New systematic, high-precision measurements and theoretical efforts are needed to establish the origin of the observed large isospin-symmetry breaking.

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arXiv2025

Spatial correlations of charm and anticharm quarks at hadronisation

Heavy-ion collisions are a unique tool for studying properties of strong interactions at high energy densities. In particular, the momentum correlations of charm and bottom hadrons have been considered for testing heavy quark thermalisation in the dense matter produced by the collisions. In this respect, two effects have been considered: the decrease of the initial back-to-back correlations and the increase of correlations due to heavy-quark interactions with the collectively flowing medium. Here, we show that information on the spatial correlations of the charm-anticharm quarks at the hadronisation can be extracted by measuring the momentum correlation of charm and anticharm hadrons produced in central collisions of two heavy nuclei. This, however, requires collisions with a single charm-anticharm quark pair created - the condition likely to be fulfilled in central Pb+Pb collisions at the CERN SPS energies. We introduce a method to correct the measured joint distribution function for the smearing of the charm and anticharm hadron momenta caused by hadronisation. Then the results are directly sensitive to the spatial correlations at the hadronisation. Using an example of central Pb+Pb collisions at the CERN SPS energies, we demonstrate that even a limited statistics of charm-anticharm hadron pairs can distinguish between different spatial correlation functions of charm-anticharm quarks at hadronisation. The results on spatial charm-anticharm quark correlations will provide a unique test of different assumptions on heavy quark creation in space-time and transport in dense, strongly interacting matter. We show that the existing detector technology and beam intensities at the CERN SPS should allow us to conduct the needed experiments soon.

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arXiv2024

$K_S^0$ meson production in inelastic p+p interactions at 31, 40 and 80 GeV/c beam momentum measured by NA61/SHINE at the CERN SPS

Measurements of $K_S^0$ meson production via its $π^{+} π^{-}$ decay mode in inelastic $\textit{p+p}$ interactions at incident projectile momenta of 31, 40 and 80 GeV/$c$ ($\sqrt{s_{NN}}=7.7, 8.8$ and $12.3$ GeV, respectively) are presented. The data were recorded by the NA61/SHINE spectrometer at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron. Double-differential distributions were obtained in transverse momentum and rapidity. The mean multiplicities of $K_S^0$ mesons were determined to be $(5.95 \pm 0.19 (stat) \pm 0.22 (sys)) \times 10^{-2}$ at 31 GeV/$c$, $(7.61 \pm 0.13 (stat) \pm 0.31 (sys)) \times 10^{-2}$ at 40 GeV/$c$ and $(11.58 \pm 0.12 (stat) \pm 0.37 (sys)) \times 10^{-2}$ at 80 GeV/$c$. The results on $K^{0}_{S}$ production are compared with model calculations (Epos1.99, SMASH 2.0 and PHSD) as well as with published data from other experiments.

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arXiv2023

A high-resolution pixel silicon Vertex Detector for open charm measurements with the \NASixtyOne spectrometer at the CERN SPS

The study of open charm meson production provides an efficient tool for the investigation of the properties of hot and dense matter formed in nucleus-nucleus collisions. The interpretation of the existing di-muon data from the CERN SPS suffers from a lack of knowledge on the mechanism and properties of the open charm particle production. Due to this, the heavy-ion programme of the \NASixtyOne experiment at the CERN SPS has been extended by precise measurements of charm hadrons with short lifetimes. A new Vertex Detector for measurements of the rare processes of open charm production in nucleus-nucleus collisions was designed to meet the challenges of track registration and high resolution in primary and secondary vertex reconstruction. A small-acceptance version of the vertex detector was installed in 2016 and tested with Pb+Pb collisions at 150\AGeVc. It was also operating during the physics data taking on Xe+La and Pb+Pb collisions at 150\AGeVc conducted in 2017 and 2018. This paper presents the detector design and construction, data calibration, event reconstruction, and analysis procedure.

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arXiv2022

$K^{0}_{S}$ meson production in inelastic $\textit{p+p}$ interactions at 158 GeV/c beam momentum measured by NA61/SHINE at the CERN SPS

The production of $K^{0}_{S}$ mesons in inelastic $\textit{p+p}$ collisions at beam momentum 158 GeV/c ($\sqrt{s_{NN}}=17.3$ GeV) was measured with the NA61/SHINE spectrometer at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron. Double-differential distributions were obtained in transverse momentum and rapidity. The mean multiplicity of $K^{0}_{S}$ was determined to be $0.162 \pm 0.001 (stat.) \pm 0.011 (sys.)$. The results on $K^{0}_{S}$ production are compared with model predictions (EPOS 1.99, SMASH 2.0, PHSD and UrQMD 3.4 models) as well as with published world data.

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arXiv2021

Eliminating $volume$ fluctuations in fixed-target heavy-ion experiments

Experimental and theoretical studies of fluctuations in nucleus-nucleus interactions at high energies have started to play a major role in understanding of the concept of strong interactions. The elaborated procedures have been developed to disentangle different processes happening during nucleus-nucleus collisions. The fluctuations caused by a variation of the number of nucleons which participated in a collision are frequently considered the unwanted one. The methods to eliminate these fluctuations in fixed-target experiments are reviewed and tested. They can be of key importance in the following ongoing fixed-target heavy-ion experiments: NA61/SHINE at the CERN SPS, STAR-FT at the BNL RHIC, BM\@N at JINR Nuclotron, HADES at the GSI SIS18 and in future experiments such as NA60+ at the CERN SPS, CBM at the FAIR SIS100, JHITS at J-PARC-HI MR.

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arXiv2020

Particle-Set Identification method to study multiplicity fluctuations

In this paper a new method of experimental data analysis, the Particle-Set Identification method, is presented. The method allows to reconstruct moments of multiplicity distribution of identified particles. The difficulty the method copes with is due to incomplete particle identification -- a particle mass is frequently determined with a resolution which does not allow for a unique determination of the particle type. Within this method the moments of order $k$ are calculated from mean multiplicities of $k$-particle sets of a given type. The Particle-Set Identification method remains valid even in the case of correlations between mass measurements for different particles. This distinguishes it from the Identity method introduced by us previously to solve the problem of incomplete particle identification in studies of particle fluctuations.

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arXiv2020

Dynamics of critical fluctuations: Theory -- phenomenology -- heavy-ion collisions

This report summarizes the presentations and discussions during the Rapid Reaction Task Force "Dynamics of critical fluctuations: Theory -- phenomenology -- heavy-ion collisions", which was organized by the ExtreMe Matter Institute EMMI and held at GSI, Darmstadt, Germany in April 2019. We address the current understanding of the dynamics of critical fluctuations in QCD and their measurement in heavy-ion collision experiments. In addition, we outline what might be learned from studying correlations in other physical systems, such as cold atomic gases.

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arXiv2018

Steady state of isolated systems versus microcanonical ensemble in cell model of particle creation and annihilation

A simple model of particle creation and annihilation in an isolated assembly of particles with conserved energy and fixed volume, the Cell Model, is formulated. With increasing time, particle number distribution, obtained by averaging over many systems, approaches a time-independent, steady state distribution. Dependence of the steady state distribution on creation and annihilation conditional reaction probabilities is studied. The results obtained for the steady state are compared with predictions of statistical mechanics within the microcanonical ensemble. In general, the predictions of both models are different. They agree only if the creation and annihilation conditional probabilities are equal. This condition also results in the detailed balance in the steady state.

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arXiv2017

Open charm production in central Pb+Pb collisions at the CERN SPS: statistical model estimates

Charm particle production in nucleus-nucleus collisions at the CERN SPS energies is considered within a statistical approach. Namely, the Statistical Model of the Early Stage is used to calculate mean multiplicity of charm particles in central Pb+Pb collisions. A small number of produced charm particles necessitates the use of the exact charm conservation law. The model predicts a rapid increase of mean charm multiplicity as a function of collision energy. The mean multiplicity calculated for central Pb+Pb collisions at the center of mass energy per nucleon pair $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=17.3$ GeV exceeds significantly the experimental upper limit. Thus, in order to describe open charm production model parameters and/or assumptions should be revised.

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arXiv2017

Two-particle correlations in azimuthal angle and pseudorapidity in inelastic p+p interactions at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron

Results on two-particle $ΔηΔϕ$ correlations in inelastic p+p interactions at 20, 31, 40, 80, and 158~GeV/c are presented. The measurements were performed using the large acceptance NA61/SHINE hadron spectrometer at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron. The data show structures which can be attributed mainly to effects of resonance decays, momentum conservation, and quantum statistics. The results are compared with the EPOS and UrQMD models.

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arXiv2016

Multiplicity and transverse momentum fluctuations in inelastic proton-proton interactions at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron

Measurements of multiplicity and transverse momentum fluctuations of charged particles were performed in inelastic p+p interactions at 20, 31, 40, 80 and 158 GeV/c beam momentum. Results for the scaled variance of the multiplicity distribution and for three strongly intensive measures of multiplicity and transverse momentum fluctuations \$Δ[P_{T},N]\$, \$Σ[P_{T},N]\$ and \$Φ_{p_T}\$ are presented. For the first time the results on fluctuations are fully corrected for experimental biases. The results on multiplicity and transverse momentum fluctuations significantly deviate from expectations for the independent particle production. They also depend on charges of selected hadrons. The string-resonance Monte Carlo models EPOS and UrQMD do not describe the data. The scaled variance of multiplicity fluctuations is significantly higher in inelastic p+p interactions than in central Pb+Pb collisions measured by NA49 at the same energy per nucleon. This is in qualitative disagreement with the predictions of the Wounded Nucleon Model. Within the statistical framework the enhanced multiplicity fluctuations in inelastic p+p interactions can be interpreted as due to event-by-event fluctuations of the fireball energy and/or volume.

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arXiv2015

Fluctuations in the Statistical Model of the Early Stage of nucleus-nucleus collisions

Predictions on fluctuations of hadron production properties in central heavy ion collisions are presented. They are based on the Statistical Model of the Early Stage and extend previously published results by considering the strongly intensive measures of fluctuations. In several of the considered cases a significant change in collision energy dependence of calculated quantities as a result of the phase transition is predicted. This provides an opportunity to observe new signals of the onset of deconfinement in heavy ion collisions experiments.

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arXiv2015

Measurement of event-by-event transverse momentum and multiplicity fluctuations using strongly intensive measures $Δ[P_T, N]$ and $Σ[P_T, N]$ in nucleus-nucleus collisions at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron

Results from the NA49 experiment at the CERN SPS are presented on event-by-event transverse momentum and multiplicity fluctuations of charged particles, produced at forward rapidities in central Pb+Pb interactions at beam momenta 20$A$, 30$A$, 40$A$, 80$A$, and 158$A$ GeV/c, as well as in systems of different size ($p+p$, C+C, Si+Si, and Pb+Pb) at 158$A$ GeV/c. This publication extends the previous NA49 measurements of the strongly intensive measure $Φ_{p_T}$ by a study of the recently proposed strongly intensive measures of fluctuations $Δ[P_T, N]$ and $Σ[P_T, N]$. In the explored kinematic region transverse momentum and multiplicity fluctuations show no significant energy dependence in the SPS energy range. However, a remarkable system size dependence is observed for both $Δ[P_T, N]$ and $Σ[P_T, N]$, with the largest values measured in peripheral Pb+Pb interactions. The results are compared with NA61/SHINE measurements in $p+p$ collisions, as well as with predictions of the UrQMD and EPOS models.

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arXiv2015

Statistical Model of the Early Stage of nucleus-nucleus collisions with exact strangeness conservation

The Statistical Model of the Early Stage, SMES, describes a transition between confined and deconfined phases of strongly interacting matter created in nucleus-nucleus collisions. The model was formulated in the late 1990s for central Pb+Pb collisions at the CERN SPS energies. It predicted several signals of the transition (onset of deconfinement) which were later observed by the NA49 experiment. The grand canonical ensemble was used to calculate entropy and strangeness production. This approximation is valid for reactions with mean multiplicities of particles carrying conserved charges being significantly larger than one. Recent results of NA61/SHINE on hadron production in inelastic p+p interactions suggest that the deconfinement may also take place in these reactions. However, in this case mean multiplicity of particles with non-zero strange charge is smaller than one. Thus for the modeling of p+p interactions the exact strangeness conservation has to be implemented in the SMES. This extension of the SMES is presented in the paper.

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arXiv2014

Recent Developments in the Study of Deconfinement in Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions

Deconfinement refers to the creation of a state of quasi-free quarks and gluons in strongly interacting matter. Model predictions and experimental evidence for the onset of deconfinement in nucleus-nucleus collisions were discussed in our first review on this subject. These results motivated further experimental and theoretical studies. This review addresses two subjects. First, a summary of the past, present and future experimental programmes related to discovery and study of properties of the onset of deconfinement are %briefly presented. Second, recent progress is reviewed on analysis methods and preliminary experimental results for new strongly intensive fluctuation measures are discussed, which are relevant for current and future studies of the onset of deconfinement and searches for the critical point of strongly interacting matter

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arXiv2014

NA61/SHINE facility at the CERN SPS: beams and detector system

NA61/SHINE (SPS Heavy Ion and Neutrino Experiment) is a multi-purpose experimental facility to study hadron production in hadron-proton, hadron-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron. It recorded the first physics data with hadron beams in 2009 and with ion beams (secondary 7Be beams) in 2011. NA61/SHINE has greatly profited from the long development of the CERN proton and ion sources and the accelerator chain as well as the H2 beamline of the CERN North Area. The latter has recently been modified to also serve as a fragment separator as needed to produce the Be beams for NA61/SHINE. Numerous components of the NA61/SHINE set-up were inherited from its predecessors, in particular, the last one, the NA49 experiment. Important new detectors and upgrades of the legacy equipment were introduced by the NA61/SHINE Collaboration. This paper describes the state of the NA61/SHINE facility - the beams and the detector system - before the CERN Long Shutdown I, which started in March 2013.

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