© 2015 American Physical Society. Event-by-event fluctuations of the multiplicities of inclusive charged particles and photons at forward rapidity in Au+Au collisions at sNN=200 GeV have been studied. The dominant contribution to such fluctuations is expected to come from correlated production of charged and neutral pions. We search for evidence of dynamical fluctuations of different physical origins. Observables constructed out of moments of multiplicities are used as measures of fluctuations. Mixed events and model calculations are used as base lines. Results are compared to the dynamical net-charge fluctuations measured in the same acceptance. A nonzero statistically significant signal of dynamical fluctuations is observed in excess to the model prediction when charged particles and photons are measured in the same acceptance. We find that, unlike dynamical net-charge fluctuation, charge-neutral fluctuation is not dominated by correlation owing to particle decay. Results are compared to the expectations based on the generic production mechanism of pions owing to isospin symmetry, for which no significant (<1%) deviation is observed.

© 2015 The Authors. A data-driven method was applied to Au+Au collisions at sNN=200GeV made with the STAR detector at RHIC to isolate pseudorapidity distance δη-dependent and δη-independent correlations by using two- and four-particle azimuthal cumulant measurements. We identified a δη-independent component of the correlation, which is dominated by anisotropic flow and flow fluctuations. It was also found to be independent of η within the measured range of pseudorapidity |η|<1. In 20-30% central Au+Au collisions, the relative flow fluctuation was found to be 34%±2%(stat.)±3%(sys.) for particles with transverse momentum pT less than 2 GeV/c. The δη-dependent part, attributed to nonflow correlations, is found to be 5%±2%(sys.) relative to the flow of the measured second harmonic cumulant at |δη|>0.7.

© 2014 The Authors. We report on a polarization measurement of inclusive J/ψ mesons in the di-electron decay channel at mid-rapidity at 2 < pT < 6 GeV/c in p + p collisions at √s = 200 GeV. Data were taken with the STAR detector at RHIC. The J/ψ polarization measurement should help to distinguish between the different models of the J/ψ production mechanism since they predict different pT dependences of the J/ψ polarization. In this analysis, J/ψ polarization is studied in the helicity frame. The polarization parameter λθ measured at RHIC becomes smaller towards high pT , indicating more longitudinal J/ψ polarization as pT increases. The result is compared with predictions of presently available models.

STAR measurements of dihadron azimuthal correlations (Δφ) are reported in midcentral (20-60%) Au+Au collisions at sNN=200 GeV as a function of the trigger particle's azimuthal angle relative to the event plane, φs=|φt-ψEP|. The elliptic (v2), triangular (v3), and quadratic (v4) flow harmonic backgrounds are subtracted using the zero yield at minimum (ZYAM) method. The results are compared to minimum-bias d+Au collisions. It is found that a finite near-side (|Δφ|<π/2) long-range pseudorapidity correlation (ridge) is present in the in-plane direction (φs∼0). The away-side (|Δφ|>π/2) correlation shows a modification from d+Au data, varying with φs. The modification may be a consequence of path-length-dependent jet quenching and may lead to a better understanding of high-density QCD. © 2014 American Physical Society.

The J/ψ pT spectrum and nuclear modification factor (RAA) are reported for pT<5GeV/c and |y|<1 from 0% to 60% central Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions at sNN=200GeV at STAR. A significant suppression of pT-integrated J/ψ production is observed in central Au+Au events. The Cu+Cu data are consistent with no suppression, although the precision is limited by the available statistics. RAA in Au+Au collisions exhibits a strong suppression at low transverse momentum and gradually increases with pT. The data are compared to high-pT STAR results and previously published BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider results. Comparing with model calculations, it is found that the invariant yields at low pT are significantly above hydrodynamic flow predictions but are consistent with models that include color screening and regeneration. © 2014 American Physical Society.

We report measurements of Υ{hooked} meson production in p + p, d + Au, and Au + Au collisions using the STAR detector at RHIC. We compare the Υ{hooked} 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{hooked}(1S + 2S + 3S) in the rapidity range |y| < 1 in d + Au collisions of R dAu = 0.79 ± 0.24(stat.) ± 0.03(syst.) ± 0.10(p + psyst.). 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 R A A = 0.49 ± 0.1(stat.) ± 0.02(syst.) ± 0.06(p + p syst.), which is a larger suppression factor than that seen in cold nuclear matter. Our results are consistent with complete suppression of excited-state Υ{hooked} 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. © 2014.

Measurements of two-particle correlations on transverse momentum pt for Au-Au collisions at sqrt sNN = 130 GeV are presented. Significant large-momentum-scale correlations are observed for charged primary hadrons with 0.15 <_ pt <_ 2 GeV/c and pseudorapidity lbar eta rbar <_ 1.3. Such correlations were not observed in a similar study at lower energy and are not predicted by theoretical collision models. Their direct relation to mean-pt fluctuations measured in the same angular acceptance is demonstrated. Positive correlations are observed for pairs of particles which have large pt values while negative correlations occur for pairs in which one particle has large pt and the other has much lower pt. The correlation amplitudes per final state particle increase with collision centrality. The 3 observed correlations are consistent with a scenario in which the transverse momentum of hadrons

We report a new measurement of the midrapidity inclusive jet longitudinal double-spin asymmetry, A_{LL}, in polarized pp collisions at center-of-mass energy sqrt[s]=200  GeV. The STAR data place stringent constraints on polarized parton distribution functions extracted at next-to-leading order from global analyses of inclusive deep-inelastic scattering (DIS), semi-inclusive DIS, and RHIC pp data. The measured asymmetries provide evidence at the 3σ level for positive gluon polarization in the Bjorken-x region x>0.05.