Suppression of Y production in d+Au and Au+Au collisions at √SNN=200 GeV

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2014
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Elsevier
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We report measurements of Y meson production in p+p, d+Au, and Au+Au collisions using the STAR detector at RHIC. We compare the Y yield to the measured cross section in p+p collisions in order to quantify any modifications of the yield in cold nuclear matter using d+Au data and in hot nuclear matter using Au+Au data separated into three centrality classes. Our p+p measurement is based on three times the statistics of our previous result. We obtain a nuclear modification factor for ϒ(1S+2S+3S) in the rapidity range |y|<1 in d+Au collisions of RdAu=0.79±0.24(stat.)±0.03(syst.)±0.10(p+p syst.). A comparison with models including shadowing and initial state parton energy loss indicates the presence of additional cold-nuclear matter suppression. Similarly, in the top 10% most-central Au+Au collisions, we measure a nuclear modification factor of RAA=0.49±0.1(stat.)±0.02(syst.)±0.06(p+psyst.), which is a larger suppression factor than that seen in cold nuclear matter. Our results are consistent with complete suppression of excited-state ϒ mesons in Au+Au collisions. The additional suppression in Au+Au is consistent with the level expected in model calculations that include the presence of a hot, deconfined Quark–Gluon Plasma. However, understanding the suppression seen in d+Au is still needed before any definitive statements about the nature of the suppression in Au+Au can be made.

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STAR Collaboration. "Suppression of Y production in d+Au and Au+Au collisions at √SNN=200 GeV." Physics Letters B, 735, (2014) Elsevier: 127-137. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2014.06.028.

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This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
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