arXiv subjects

M. Justice

Publications and source records attributed to M. Justice.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2008

Pion Production by Protons on a Thin Beryllium Target at 6.4, 12.3, and 17.5 GeV/c Incident Proton Momenta

An analysis of inclusive pion production in proton-beryllium collisions at 6.4, 12.3, and 17.5 GeV/c proton beam momentum has been performed. The data were taken by Experiment 910 at the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. The differential $π^+$ and $π^-$ production cross sections ($d^2σ/dpdΩ$) are measured up to 400 mRad in $θ_π$ and up to 6 GeV/c in $p_π$. The measured cross section is fit with a Sanford-Wang parameterization.

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arXiv2003

Near-threshold production of the multi-strange $Ξ^-$ hyperon

The yield for the multi-strange $Ξ^{-}$ hyperon has been measured in 6 AGeV Au+Au collisions via reconstruction of its decay products $π^{-}$ and $Λ$, the latter also being reconstructed from its daughter tracks of $π^{-}$ and p. The measurement is rather close to the threshold for $Ξ^{-}$ production and therefore provides an important test of model predictions. The measured yield for $Ξ^{-}$ and $Λ$ are compared for several centralities. In central collisions the $Ξ^{-}$ yield is found to be in excellent agreement with statistical and transport model predictions, suggesting that multi-strange hadron production approaches chemical equilibrium in high baryon density nuclear matter.

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arXiv2003

Comparison of Source Images for protons, $π^-$'s and $Λ$'s in 6 AGeV Au+Au collisions

Source images are extracted from two-particle correlations constructed from strange and non-strange hadrons produced in 6 AGeV Au + Au collisions. Very different source images result from pp vs p$Λ$ vs $π^-π^-$ correlations. These observations suggest important differences in the space-time emission histories for protons, pions and neutral strange baryons produced in the same events.

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arXiv2002

Longitudinal Flow of Protons from 2-8 AGeV Central Au+Au Collisions

Rapidity distributions of protons from central $^{197}$Au + $^{197}$Au collisions measured by the E895 Collaboration in the energy range from 2 to 8 AGeV at the Brookhaven AGS are presented. Longitudinal flow parameters derived using a thermal model including collective longitudinal expansion are extracted from these distributions. The results show an approximately linear increase in the longitudinal flow velocity, $<βγ>_{L}$, as a function of the logarithm of beam energy.

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arXiv2001

Inclusive Soft Pion Production from 12.3 and 17.5 GeV/c Protons on Be, Cu and Au

Differential cross-sections are presented for the inclusive production of charged pions in the momentum range 0.1 to 1.2 GeV/c in interactions of 12.3 and 17.5 GeV/c protons with Be, Cu, and Au targets. The measurements were made by Experiment 910 at the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron in Brookhaven National Laboratory. The cross-sections are presented as a function of pion total momentum and production polar angle $θ$ with respect to the beam.

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arXiv2001

Antiproton Production in $p+A$ Collisions at AGS Energies

Inclusive and semi-inclusive measurements are presented for antiproton ($\bar{p}$) production in proton-nucleus collisions at the AGS. The inclusive yields per event increase strongly with increasing beam energy and decrease slightly with increasing target mass. The $\bar{p}$ yield in 17.5 GeV/c p+Au collisions decreases with grey track multiplicity, $N_g$, for $N_g>0$, consistent with annihilation within the target nucleus. The relationship between $N_g$ and the number of scatterings of the proton in the nucleus is used to estimate the $\bar{p}$ annihilation cross section in the nuclear medium. The resulting cross section is at least a factor of five smaller than the free $\bar{p}-p$ annihilation cross section when assuming a small or negligible formation time. Only with a long formation time can the data be described with the free $\bar{p}-p$ annihilation cross section.

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arXiv2001

Laying the groundwork at the AGS: Recent results from experiment E895

The E895 Collaboration at the Brookhaven AGS has performed a systematic investigation of Au+Au collisions at 2-8 AGeV, using a large-acceptance Time Projection Chamber. In addition to extensive measurements of particle flow, spectra, two-particle interferometry, and strangeness production, we have performed novel hybrid analyses, including azimuthally-sensitive pion HBT, extraction of the six-dimensional pion phasespace density, and a first measurement of the Lambda-proton correlation function.

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arXiv2001

Anti-flow of K$^0_s$ Mesons in 6 AGeV Au + Au Collisions

We have measured the sideward flow of neutral strange ($K^0_s$) mesons in 6 AGeV Au + Au collisions. A prominent anti-flow signal is observed for an impact parameter range (b $\lesssim 7$ fm) which spans central and mid-central events. Since the $K^0_s$ scattering cross section is relatively small in nuclear matter, this observation suggests that the in-medium kaon vector potential plays an important role in high density nuclear matter.

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arXiv2001

Directed Flow of $\Lambda$-Hyperons in 2-6 AGeV Au+Au Collisions

Directed flow measurements for $\Lambda$-hyperons are presented and compared to those for protons produced in the same Au+Au collisions (2, 4, and 6 AGeV; $b < 5 - 6$ fm). The measurements indicate that $\Lambda$-hyperons flow consistently in the same direction and with smaller magnitudes than those of protons. Such a strong positive flow [for $\Lambda$s] has been predicted in calculations which include the influence of the $\Lambda$-nucleon potential. The experimental flow ratio $\Lambda$/p is in qualitative agreement with expectations ($\sim 2/3$) from the quark counting rule at 2 AGeV but is found to decrease with increasing beam energy.

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arXiv2000

Azimuthal Dependence of Pion Interferometry at the AGS

Two-pion correlation functions, measured as a function of azimuthal emission angle with respect to the reaction plane, provide novel information on the anisotropic shape and orientation of the pion-emitting zone formed in heavy ion collisions. We present the first experimental determination of this information, for semi-central Au+Au collisions at 2-6 AGeV. The source extension perpendicular to the reaction plane is greater than the extension in the plane, and tilt of the pion source in coordinate space is found to be opposite its tilt in momentum space.

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arXiv2000

Semi-Inclusive Lambda and Kshort Production in p-Au Collisions at 17.5 GeV/c

The first detailed measurements of the centrality dependence of strangeness production in p-A collisions are presented. Lambda and Kshort dn/dy distributions from 17.5 GeV/c p-Au collisions are shown as a function of "grey" track multiplicity and the estimated number of collisions, nu, made by the proton. The nu dependence of the Lambda yield deviates from a scaling of p-p data by the number of participants, increasing faster than this scaling for nu<=5 and saturating for larger nu. A slower growth in Kshort multiplicity with nu is observed, consistent with a weaker nu dependence of K-Kbar production than Y-K production.

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arXiv2000

Sideward Flow in Au + Au Collisions Between 2A GeV and 8A GeV

Using the large acceptance Time Projection Chamber of experiment E895 at Brookhaven, measurements of collective sideward flow in Au + Au collisions at beam energies of 2, 4, 6 and 8A GeV are presented in the form of in-plane transverse momentum and the first Fourier coefficient of azimuthal anisotropy v_1. These measurements indicate a smooth variation of sideward flow as a function of beam energy. The data are compared with four nuclear transport models which have an orientation towards this energy range. All four exhibit some qualitative trends similar to those found in the data, although none shows a consistent pattern of agreement within experimental uncertainties.

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arXiv1999

Centrality dependence of Pi- Production and Stopping in p-A Collisions at 18 GeV/c

First results are presented from BNL experiment E910 on pion production and stopping in proton-Be, Cu, and Au collisions at a beam momentum of 18 GeV/c. We characterize the centrality of the collisions using the measured number of "grey" tracks, Ngrey,and a derived quantity, nu, the number of inelastic nucleon-nucleon scatterings suffered by the projectile during the collision. We find that for the three targets the average backward rapidity shift of the leading proton follows a common trend versus nu with the projectile losing, on average, 2 units of rapidity in the first 2-3 scatterings. The average rapidity shift increases more slowly with subsequent scatterings reaching a maximum of 2.5 units. The pi- multiplicity measured within the E910 acceptance saturates with increasing nu in p-Au collisions while the pi- multiplicity in p-Be collisions increases faster with nu than expected from the wounded-nucleon model. Comparisons of our data with the RQMD cascade model suggest that in very central p-Au collisions most of the pions are produced near zero rapidity in the lab.

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arXiv1999

Measuring centrality with slow protons in proton-nucleus collisions at the AGS

Experiment 910 has measured slow protons and deuterons from collisions of 18 GeV/c protons with Be, Cu, and Au targets at the BNL AGS. These correspond to the ``grey tracks'' first observed in emulsion experiments. We report on their momentum and angular distributions and investigate their use in measuring the centrality of a collision, as defined by the mean number of projectile-nucleon interactions. The relation between the measured Ngrey and the mean number of interactions, nu(Ngrey), is studied using several simple models, one newly proposed, as well as the RQMD event generator. RQMD is shown to reproduce the Ngrey distribution, and exhibits a dependence of Ngrey on centrality that is similar to the behavior of the simple models. We find a strong linear dependence of average Ngrey on nu, with a constant of proportionality that varies with target. For the Au target, we report a relative systematic error for extracting nu(Ngrey) that lies between 10% and 20% over all Ngrey.

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arXiv1998

Lambda Hyperons in 2 A*GeV Ni + Cu Collisions

A sample of Lambda's produced in 2 A*GeV Ni + Cu collisions has been obtained with the EOS Time Projection Chamber at the Bevalac. Low background in the invariant mass distribution allows for the unambiguous demonstration of Lambda directed flow. The transverse mass spectrum at mid-rapidity has the characteristic shoulder-arm shape of particles undergoing radial transverse expansion. A linear dependence of Lambda multiplicity on impact parameter is observed, from which a total Lambda + Sigma^0 production cross section of $112 +/- 24 mb is deduced. Detailed comparisons with the ARC and RVUU models are made.

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arXiv1996

The Evolution of Nuclear Multifragmentation in the Temperature-Density Plane

The mean transverse kinetic energies of the fragments formed in the interaction of 1 A GeV Au+C have been determined. An energy balance argument indicates the presence of a collective energy which increases in magnitude with increasing multiplicity and accounts for nearly half of the measured mean transverse kinetic energy. The radial flow velocity associated with the collective energy yields estimates for the time required to expand to the freeze-out volume. Isentropic trajectories in the temperature-density plane are shown for the expansion and indicate that the system goes through the critical region at the same multiplicities as deduced from a statistical analysis. Here, the expansion time is approximately 70 fm/c.

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arXiv1995

Radial Flow in Au+Au Collisions at E=0.25-1.15 A GeV

A systematic study of energy spectra for light particles emitted at midrapidity from Au+Au collisions at E=0.25-1.15 A GeV reveals a significant non-thermal component consistent with a collective radial flow. This component is evaluated as a function of bombarding energy and event centrality. Comparisons to Quantum Molecular Dynamics (QMD) and Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (BUU) models are made for different equations of state.

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