Contents lists available atScienceDirect
Physics
Letters
B
www.elsevier.com/locate/physletb
Energy
dependence
of
acceptance-corrected
dielectron
excess
mass
spectrum
at
mid-rapidity
in
Au
+
Au collisions
at
√
s
NN
=
19
.
6 and
200 GeV
STAR
Collaboration
L. Adamczyk
a,
J.K. Adkins
u,
G. Agakishiev
s,
M.M. Aggarwal
af,
Z. Ahammed
aw,
I. Alekseev
q,
J. Alford
t,
A. Aparin
s,
D. Arkhipkin
c,
E.C. Aschenauer
c,
G.S. Averichev
s,
A. Banerjee
aw,
R. Bellwied
as,
A. Bhasin
r,
A.K. Bhati
af,
P. Bhattarai
ar,
J. Bielcik
k,
J. Bielcikova
l,
L.C. Bland
c,
I.G. Bordyuzhin
q,
J. Bouchet
t,
A.V. Brandin
ab,
I. Bunzarov
s,
T.P. Burton
c,
J. Butterworth
al,
H. Caines
ba,
M. Calder’on de la Barca S’anchez
e,
J.M. Campbell
ad,
D. Cebra
e,
M.C. Cervantes
aq,
I. Chakaberia
c,
P. Chaloupka
k,
Z. Chang
aq,
S. Chattopadhyay
aw,
J.H. Chen
ao,
X. Chen
w,
J. Cheng
at,
M. Cherney
j,
W. Christie
c,
M.J.M. Codrington
ar,
G. Contin
x,
H.J. Crawford
d,
S. Das
n,
L.C. De Silva
j,
R.R. Debbe
c,
T.G. Dedovich
s,
J. Deng
an,
A.A. Derevschikov
ah,
B. di Ruzza
c,
L. Didenko
c,
C. Dilks
ag,
X. Dong
x,
J.L. Drachenberg
av,
J.E. Draper
e,
C.M. Du
w,
L.E. Dunkelberger
f,
J.C. Dunlop
c,
L.G. Efimov
s,
J. Engelage
d,
G. Eppley
al,
R. Esha
f,
O. Evdokimov
i,
O. Eyser
c,
R. Fatemi
u,
S. Fazio
c,
P. Federic
l,
J. Fedorisin
s,
Feng
h,
P. Filip
s,
Y. Fisyak
c,
C.E. Flores
e,
L. Fulek
a,
C.A. Gagliardi
aq,
D. Garand
ai,
F. Geurts
al,
A. Gibson
av,
M. Girard
ax,
L. Greiner
x,
D. Grosnick
av,
D.S. Gunarathne
ap,
Y. Guo
am,
S. Gupta
r,
A. Gupta
r,
W. Guryn
c,
A. Hamad
t,
A. Hamed
aq,
R. Haque
ac,
J.W. Harris
ba,
L. He
ai,
S. Heppelmann
ag,
A. Hirsch
ai,
G.W. Hoffmann
ar,
D.J. Hofman
i,
S. Horvat
ba,
H.Z. Huang
f,
X. Huang
at,
B. Huang
i,∗
,
P. Huck
h,
T.J. Humanic
ad,
G. Igo
f,
W.W. Jacobs
p,
H. Jang
v,
K. Jiang
am,
E.G. Judd
d,
S. Kabana
t,
D. Kalinkin
q,
K. Kang
at,
K. Kauder
i,
H.W. Ke
c,
D. Keane
t,
A. Kechechyan
s,
Z.H. Khan
i,
D.P. Kikola
ax,
I. Kisel
m,
A. Kisiel
ax,
S.R. Klein
x,
D.D. Koetke
av,
T. Kollegger
m,
L.K. Kosarzewski
ax,
L. Kotchenda
ab,
A.F. Kraishan
ap,
P. Kravtsov
ab,
K. Krueger
b,
I. Kulakov
m,
L. Kumar
af,
R.A. Kycia
ae,
M.A.C. Lamont
c,
J.M. Landgraf
c,
K.D. Landry
f,
J. Lauret
c,
A. Lebedev
c,
R. Lednicky
s,
J.H. Lee
c,
X. Li
ap,
X. Li
c,
W. Li
ao,
Z.M. Li
h,
Y. Li
at,
C. Li
am,
M.A. Lisa
ad,
F. Liu
h,
T. Ljubicic
c,
W.J. Llope
ay,
M. Lomnitz
t,
R.S. Longacre
c,
X. Luo
h,
L. Ma
ao,
R. Ma
c,
G.L. Ma
ao,
Y.G. Ma
ao,
N. Magdy
az,
R. Majka
ba,
A. Manion
x,
S. Margetis
t,
C. Markert
ar,
H. Masui
x,
H.S. Matis
x,
D. McDonald
as,
K. Meehan
e,
N.G. Minaev
ah,
S. Mioduszewski
aq,
B. Mohanty
ac,
M.M. Mondal
aq,
D.A. Morozov
ah,
M.K. Mustafa
x,
B.K. Nandi
o,
Md. Nasim
f,
T.K. Nayak
aw,
G. Nigmatkulov
ab,
L.V. Nogach
ah,
S.Y. Noh
v,
J. Novak
aa,
S.B. Nurushev
ah,
G. Odyniec
x,
A. Ogawa
c,
K. Oh
aj,
V. Okorokov
ab,
D.L. Olvitt Jr.
ap,
B.S. Page
p,
Y.X. Pan
f,
Y. Pandit
i,
Y. Panebratsev
s,
T. Pawlak
ax,
B. Pawlik
ae,
H. Pei
h,
C. Perkins
d,
A. Peterson
ad,
P. Pile
c,
M. Planinic
bb,
J. Pluta
ax,
N. Poljak
bb,
K. Poniatowska
ax,
J. Porter
x,
M. Posik
ap,
A.M. Poskanzer
x,
N.K. Pruthi
af,
J. Putschke
ay,
H. Qiu
x,
A. Quintero
t,
S. Ramachandran
u,
R. Raniwala
ak,
S. Raniwala
ak,
R.L. Ray
ar,
H.G. Ritter
x,
J.B. Roberts
al,
O.V. Rogachevskiy
s,
J.L. Romero
e,
A. Roy
aw,
L. Ruan
c,
J. Rusnak
l,
O. Rusnakova
k,
N.R. Sahoo
aq,
P.K. Sahu
n,
I. Sakrejda
x,
S. Salur
x,
A. Sandacz
ax,
J. Sandweiss
ba,
A. Sarkar
o,
J. Schambach
ar,
R.P. Scharenberg
ai,
A.M. Schmah
x,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2015.08.044
W.B. Schmidke
c,
N. Schmitz
z,
J. Seger
j,
P. Seyboth
z,
N. Shah
f,
E. Shahaliev
s,
P.V. Shanmuganathan
t,
M. Shao
am,
M.K. Sharma
r,
B. Sharma
af,
W.Q. Shen
ao,
S.S. Shi
x,
Q.Y. Shou
ao,
E.P. Sichtermann
x,
R. Sikora
a,
M. Simko
l,
M.J. Skoby
p,
N. Smirnov
ba,
D. Smirnov
c,
D. Solanki
ak,
L. Song
as,
P. Sorensen
c,
H.M. Spinka
b,
B. Srivastava
ai,
T.D.S. Stanislaus
av,
R. Stock
m,
M. Strikhanov
ab,
B. Stringfellow
ai,
M. Sumbera
l,
B.J. Summa
ag,
Y. Sun
am,
Z. Sun
w,
X.M. Sun
h,
X. Sun
x,
B. Surrow
ap,
D.N. Svirida
q,
M.A. Szelezniak
x,
J. Takahashi
g,
A.H. Tang
c,
Z. Tang
am,
T. Tarnowsky
aa,
A.N. Tawfik
az,
J.H. Thomas
x,
A.R. Timmins
as,
D. Tlusty
l,
M. Tokarev
s,
S. Trentalange
f,
R.E. Tribble
aq,
P. Tribedy
aw,
S.K. Tripathy
n,
B.A. Trzeciak
k,
O.D. Tsai
f,
T. Ullrich
c,
D.G. Underwood
b,
I. Upsal
ad,
G. Van Buren
c,
G. van Nieuwenhuizen
y,
M. Vandenbroucke
ap,
R. Varma
o,
A.N. Vasiliev
ah,
R. Vertesi
l,
F. Videbaek
c,
Y.P. Viyogi
aw,
S. Vokal
s,
S.A. Voloshin
ay,
A. Vossen
p,
Y. Wang
h,
F. Wang
ai,
H. Wang
c,
J.S. Wang
w,
G. Wang
f,
Y. Wang
at,
J.C. Webb
c,
G. Webb
c,
L. Wen
f,
G.D. Westfall
aa,
H. Wieman
x,
S.W. Wissink
p,
R. Witt
au,
Y.F. Wu
h,
Z. Xiao
at,
W. Xie
ai,
K. Xin
al,
Z. Xu
c,
Q.H. Xu
an,
N. Xu
x,
H. Xu
w,
Y.F. Xu
ao,
Y. Yang
h,
C. Yang
am,
S. Yang
am,
Q. Yang
am,
Y. Yang
w,
Z. Ye
i,
P. Yepes
al,
L. Yi
ai,
K. Yip
c,
I.-K. Yoo
aj,
N. Yu
h,
H. Zbroszczyk
ax,
W. Zha
am,
J.B. Zhang
h,
X.P. Zhang
at,
S. Zhang
ao,
J. Zhang
w,
Z. Zhang
ao,
Y. Zhang
am,
J.L. Zhang
an,
F. Zhao
f,
J. Zhao
h,
C. Zhong
ao,
L. Zhou
am,
X. Zhu
at,
Y. Zoulkarneeva
s,
M. Zyzak
maAGHUniversityofScienceandTechnology,Cracow30-059,Poland bArgonneNationalLaboratory,Argonne,IL 60439,USA
cBrookhavenNationalLaboratory,Upton,NY 11973,USA dUniversityofCalifornia,Berkeley,CA 94720,USA eUniversityofCalifornia,Davis,CA 95616,USA fUniversityofCalifornia,LosAngeles,CA 90095,USA gUniversidadeEstadualdeCampinas,SaoPaulo13131,Brazil hCentralChinaNormalUniversity(HZNU),Wuhan430079,China iUniversityofIllinoisatChicago,Chicago,IL 60607,USA jCreightonUniversity,Omaha,NE 68178,USA
kCzechTechnicalUniversityinPrague,FNSPE,Prague,11519,CzechRepublic lNuclearPhysicsInstituteASCR,25068ˇRež/Prague,CzechRepublic mFrankfurtInstituteforAdvancedStudiesFIAS,Frankfurt60438,Germany nInstituteofPhysics,Bhubaneswar751005,India
oIndianInstituteofTechnology,Mumbai400076,India pIndianaUniversity,Bloomington,IN 47408,USA
qAlikhanovInstituteforTheoreticalandExperimentalPhysics,Moscow117218,Russia rUniversityofJammu,Jammu180001,India
sJointInstituteforNuclearResearch,Dubna,141980,Russia tKentStateUniversity,Kent,OH 44242,USA
uUniversityofKentucky,Lexington,KY 40506-0055,USA
vKoreaInstituteofScienceandTechnologyInformation,Daejeon305-701,RepublicofKorea wInstituteofModernPhysics,Lanzhou730000,China
xLawrenceBerkeleyNationalLaboratory,Berkeley,CA 94720,USA yMassachusettsInstituteofTechnology,Cambridge,MA 02139-4307,USA zMax-Planck-InstitutfurPhysik,Munich80805,Germany
aa
MichiganStateUniversity,EastLansing,MI 48824,USA abMoscowEngineeringPhysicsInstitute,Moscow115409,Russia
acNationalInstituteofScienceEducationandResearch,Bhubaneswar751005,India adOhioStateUniversity,Columbus,OH 43210,USA
aeInstituteofNuclearPhysicsPAN,Cracow31-342,Poland afPanjabUniversity,Chandigarh160014,India
agPennsylvaniaStateUniversity,UniversityPark,PA 16802,USA ahInstituteofHighEnergyPhysics,Protvino142281,Russia aiPurdueUniversity,WestLafayette,IN 47907,USA ajPusanNationalUniversity,Pusan609735,RepublicofKorea akUniversityofRajasthan,Jaipur302004,India
alRiceUniversity,Houston,TX 77251,USA
amUniversityofScienceandTechnologyofChina,Hefei230026,China anShandongUniversity,Jinan,Shandong250100,China
aoShanghaiInstituteofAppliedPhysics,Shanghai201800,China apTempleUniversity,Philadelphia,PA 19122,USA
aqTexasA&MUniversity,CollegeStation,TX 77843,USA arUniversityofTexas,Austin,TX 78712,USA asUniversityofHouston,Houston,TX 77204,USA atTsinghuaUniversity,Beijing100084,China
azWorldLaboratoryforCosmologyandParticlePhysics(WLCAPP),Cairo11571,Egypt baYaleUniversity,NewHaven,CT 06520,USA
bbUniversityofZagreb,Zagreb,HR-10002,Croatia
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Articlehistory:
Received23January2015
Receivedinrevisedform25June2015 Accepted18August2015
Availableonline20August2015 Editor:H.Weerts
Theacceptance-correcteddielectronexcessmassspectra,wheretheknownhadronicsourceshavebeen subtracted fromthe inclusive dielectronmass spectra, are reported for the firsttime atmid-rapidity
|yee|<1 inminimum-biasAu+Au collisionsat√sNN=19.6 and200 GeV.Theexcessmassspectraare consistentlydescribedbyamodelcalculationwithabroadened
ρ
spectralfunctionforMee<1.1 GeV/c2. The integrated dielectron excessyield at√sNN=19.6 GeV for 0.4<Mee<0.75 GeV/c2,normalized to thecharged particlemultiplicityatmid-rapidity,hasavaluesimilar tothat inIn+In collisionsat√s
NN=17.3 GeV.For√sNN=200 GeV,thenormalizedexcessyieldincentralcollisionsishigherthan thatat√sNN=17.3 GeV andincreasesfromperipheraltocentralcollisions.Thesemeasurementsindicate thatthelifetimeofthehot,densemediumcreatedincentralAu+Au collisionsat√sNN=200 GeV is longerthanthoseinperipheralcollisionsandatlowerenergies.
©2015TheAuthors.PublishedbyElsevierB.V.ThisisanopenaccessarticleundertheCCBYlicense (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).FundedbySCOAP3.
1. Introduction
Dileptonsarecrucialprobes forstudyingthepropertiesofthe stronglyinteracting,hot anddense matterwhichiscreatedin ul-trarelativisticheavy-ioncollisionsattheRelativisticHeavy-Ion Col-lider(RHIC)[1,2].Theyareproducedduringthewholeevolutionof thecreatedmatter,andarenotsubjecttostronginteractionswith themedium.Dielectron pairsare sensitiveprobes ofthemedium propertiesthroughoutthespacetimeevolutionofthemedium
[3,4]
becausetheyareproducedthroughavarietyofmechanismsandin severaldifferentkinematicregimes.
Inthelow invariant massregion, Mll
<
1.
1 GeV/
c2 (LMR),thedilepton production is dominated by in-medium decay of vector mesons(
ρ
,ω
andφ
) inthehadronicgasphase.In-medium mod-ificationstothemassandwidthofthevectormesonsare consid-eredas alinktochiralsymmetryrestoration[3,4].Inthevacuum, chiral symmetry is spontaneously broken, which results in mass differencesbetween chiralpartners [e.g.ρ
anda1(
1260)
]. Inthehot,densemedium,chiralsymmetryisexpectedtorestoreandthe massdistributionsof
ρ
anda1(
1260)
areexpectedtochangeanddegenerate.Sinceitisextremelychallengingtomeasureaspectral functionforthea1
(
1260)
meson,one cannotdirectlyobservethedisappearanceof themass splittingbetweenthe
ρ
anda1(
1260)
experimentally.Instead,effortsaredevotedtostudyingthe modifi-cationofvectormesonspectralfunction.Twoschematicscenarios areusedtodescribethein-medium
ρ
spectrumfunction:a broad-enedandadropping-massρ
.The broadenedρ
scenario incorpo-ratesfinitetemperatureeffectsintoself-energycorrectionsthrough mediuminteractionsandπ π
annihilations[5].Thedroppingmass scenariousesthequark meanfieldfromahigh temperature/den-sityregimewhereinconstituentquarksaretherelevantdegreesof freedom,andthenextrapolatesdowntoalowtemperature/density regimewhereinhadronsareappropriatedegreesoffreedom[6].TheCERES experimentattheCERN-SPS reportedan excess di-electronyield withrespect totheknown hadronicsources inthe LMR in Pb
+
Au collisions at√
sNN=
17.
2 GeV, which indicatesthatthevectormesonsaremodifiedinmedium[7].Morerecently,
NA60 published a precise measurement of the dimuon invariant
mass spectra in In
+
In collisions at√
sNN=
17.
3 GeV [8]. Theresults show a significant excess in the LMR above the hadronic sources.Inbothcases,theexcessisconsistentwithabroadened
ρ
*
Correspondingauthor.E-mailaddress:bingchu@uic.edu(B. Huang).
spectralfunction[5],butnotwitha
ρ
dropping-massscenario[6], wherebothmodelshavebeenevaluatedforthesamefireball evo-lution.Inthemodelcalculation,thecouplingtothebaryonsinthe mediumplaysadominantroleinthebroadeningoftheρ
spectral function[5,7,8].At RHIC, a significant enhancement in the dielectron
contin-uum, compared withthe known hadronic sources, has been
ob-served inthe LMR by both the PHENIX and STAR Collaborations
in Au
+
Au collisionsat√
sNN=
200 GeV[9,10].Results fromtheSTAR Collaboration show that the excess dielectron yield in the mass region 0
.
3–0.
76 GeV/
c2 follows an N1.54±0.18part dependence,
where Npart is the number of participant nucleons in a
colli-sion [10].However, thePHENIXCollaborationreported significant higher excess dielectron yields in central collisions [9]. Theoreti-cal calculations[11–14],whichdescribetheSPSdileptondata,fail to consistentlydescribe thelow-mass enhancementatlow
trans-verse momentum (pT) observed by PHENIX in both 0–10% and
10–20%centralAu
+
Au collisions[9].Thesamecalculations, how-ever,correctlydescribetheSTARmeasurementofthelow-pT andlow-mass enhancement from peripheralto central Au
+
Au colli-sions [10]. While the discrepancy between STAR and PHENIX in central Au+
Au collisions at√
sNN=
200 GeV isstill underinves-tigation, it is important to have dilepton measurements at RHIC atlowerbeamenergieswiththesamelargeacceptanceasforthe 200 GeVdata.Sincethetotalbaryondensitydoesnotchange sig-nificantly from
√
sNN=
17.
3 GeV to√
sNN=
200 GeV [15], it isessentialtoconfirmthatthebroadened
ρ
spectralfunction,which describes theresults at17.3 GeV andthe 200 GeV STAR data,is consistentwiththe19.6 GeVresults.Intheintermediatemassregion,1
.
1<
Mll<
3.
0 GeV/
c2 (IMR),dilepton production is expected to be directly related to
ther-mal radiation of the partonic phase, which is considered to
be the prime signature of deconfinement [11,12]. An enhanced
yield in this region was first observed by HELIOS/3 [16] and
NA38/NA50 [17]. More recently, theNA60 Collaboration reported anenhancementintheIMRwhichcannot beconnectedtodecays ofD mesons,butmaybetheresultofthermalradiation[8]. How-ever, it is experimentally challenging to extract the signal in the presenceofsignificantbackgroundsourcesfromopenheavy-flavor semi-leptonicdecays,suchascc
¯
→
l+l−X orbb¯
→
l+l−X .In this letter, we report the first dielectron measurements at mid-rapidity in minimum-bias Au
+
Au collisions at√
sNN=
withmeasurementsfromNA60andtheoreticalmodelcalculations. Theinvariantexcessdielectronspectraatdifferentcentralitiesand energies allow for a first systematic studyof the lifetime of the hot,dense medium using electromagneticprobes atRHIC. It was pointedoutthattheexcessdielectronyieldatlowmassis propor-tionalto the total lifetimeof the hot, dense medium at
√
sNN=
6–200 GeV[19].
2. Experimentanddataanalysis
Inthisanalysis,33millionminimum-bias(MB)Au
+
Au (0–80%) eventsat√
sNN=
19.
6 GeV, recordedby the STARexperimentinthe year 2011, were used. The results at
√
sNN=
200 GeV arederived from the same data analysis reported in Ref. [10]. The MB trigger at
√
sNN=
19.
6 GeV was defined asa coincidence ofthetwo Beam Counterscovering the pseudorapidity range 3
.
3<
|
η
|
<
5.
0 [20]. Charged tracks were reconstructed by the Time ProjectionChamber(TPC)[21],whichhasfullazimuthal coverage at|
η
|
<
1. The absolute distance between collision vertices and theTPCcenter along thebeamdirection was requiredto be less than70 cm.Thetransverse momentumresolutionismeasuredto bepT
/
pT=
0.
01× [
1+
pT/(
2 GeV/
c)
]
for pT<
5 GeV/
c. TheTime-Of-Flight(TOF)[22]detector,whichcoversthe pseudorapid-ityrange
|
η
|
<
0.
9,providesthearrivaltimeofchargedtracksfrom the collision vertex. Slow hadrons can be rejected by a velocity cut|
1/β
−
1/β
exp|
<
0.
025 in the range of 0.
2<
pT<
3 GeV/
c,where
β
is the measured velocity andβ
exp is the expectedve-locitycalculatedusing thetracklength andmomentum withthe assumption ofthe electron mass. After the velocity cut, electron identificationisachievedbycutting onthenormalized ionization energy loss (n
σ
e=
log(
dEdx/
Ie)/
Re) measured by the TPC, wheredE
/
dx is the energy loss, Ie is the expected dE/
dx for anelec-tronandRe isthedE
/
dx resolutionofanelectron,whichisbetterthan8% [23].Then
σ
e cutismomentumdependentandresultsinahighelectronpurityof
>
93% andanefficiencyof>
65% on av-erage[10,24]
.Theelectronandpositroncandidatesarepairedbyoppositeand samesign charges,called unlike-sign andlike-sign pairs, respec-tively. The like-sign pairs are used to statisticallyreproduce the combinatorialandcorrelated pairbackgrounds.Thecombinatorial
background comes from two random tracks without correlation.
Thecorrelated backgroundis theresultof two electrons,each of whichcomesfromadifferentbutcorrelatedprocess ofaparticle decayorajetfragmentation.Forexample,considera
π
0→
γ
e+e−Dalitzdecaywherethe gammamayconverton some materialto
formanadditional e+e− pair. Thee± fromthe
π
0 pairedwithae∓fromthe
γ
canproduceacorrelatedbackgroundpair.This cor-relatedbackgroundcanbereproducedbylike-signpairs.The unlike-sign andlike-sign pairs havedifferent acceptances duetodeadareasofthedetectorandthedifferentbending curva-turesofpositivelyandnegativelychargedparticlesinthemagnetic field. The dead area fraction is 13% along the azimuthal distri-bution at
η
<
1. A mixed-event technique [9]is applied to esti-matetheacceptancedifferencesbetweentheunlike-signand like-signdistributions.Fig. 1
(a)showstheratiobetweenmixed-event unlike-signpairsandmixed-eventlike-signpairs asa functionof dielectronmass.Azoom-inversionisshowninFig. 1
(b).Thebackgroundsubtractionisbasedonthemeasuredlike-sign spectrawiththeassumptionthattheshapeandmagnitudeofthe correlated background are the same in the unlike- and like-sign spectra. We subtract the like-signbackground (corrected for the acceptancedifferenceusingthemixedeventtechniquementioned above)fromtheunlike-signdistributionstoobtaintheraw dielec-tron signals. The mixed-event background is not used for back-groundsubtraction,sincethecorrelatedbackgroundcontributionis
Fig. 1. (Color online.)(a): Ratioof mixed-eventunlike-sign pair tomixed-event like-signpair dielectronmassdistributions. (b): A zoom-inversionofPanel (a). (c): Reconstructeddielectronunlike-signpairs(invertedtriangles),like-signpairs (opencircles)andsignal(filledcircles)distributions.(d):Thesignaltobackground ratio(S/B).Allpanelsarepresentedasafunctionofdielectroninvariantmassin Au+Au collisionsat√sNN=19.6 GeV.
difficulttoaddresswithlimitedstatisticsatMee
>
1.
5 GeV/
c2 for√
sNN
=
19.
6 GeV.Fig. 1
(c)showstheinvariantmassdistributionsofunlike-signpairs,like-signpairsandbackground-subtracted sig-nals.Thesignaltobackgroundratioisshownin
Fig. 1
(d). Dielec-tron pairs fromphoton conversions in the detectormaterials are suppressedbyselectingtrackswithadistanceofclosestapproach to the collision vertex that is less than 1 cm, and a minimum openinganglecutbetweenthetwoelectroncandidates[9,10].The minimum opening angle is 0.84 rad at Mee<
0.
03 GeV/
c2 andFig. 2. (Coloronline.)TheTsallisBlastWave(TBW)functionfit[26,27]totheNA49
pT spectraofpions,kaonsandprotonsinPb+Pb at√sNN=17.3 GeV[28].The
datapointsofπ+completelyoverlapwiththatofπ−onthefigure.Othermeson
pTspectraarepredictedbytheTBWfunction.For J/ψ,thepTshapeisdetermined
byanindependentTBWfunctionfittothe J/ψ pTspectrameasuredbyNA50[29].
Moredetailsareinthetext.
A
/
[
B+
exp(
C/
Mee)
]
, inwhich A, B, andC are input parameters.ForMee
>
0.
1 GeV/
c2,theminimumopeningangleiszero.The raw dielectron signal is corrected for the electron recon-struction efficiency. The single electron reconstruction efficiency includes TPC tracking, electron identification and TOF matching efficiencies. TheTPC trackingefficiencyis determined by embed-ding MonteCarlo(MC) tracksinto realraw dataevents,
process-ing the track reconstruction with a GEANT model of the STAR
detector [25], and determining the fraction of those embedded MC tracks whichare reconstructed asgoodtracks. The efficiency correction includes the effect of dead areas in the detector. The TOF matching and electron identification efficiencies are repro-ducedfromreal data.Detailedprocedures toobtain the TPCand TOF efficiencies are explained in Ref. [24]. The energy loss and bremsstrahlung radiation effects for electrons are reproduced by theGEANTsimulation.Thesingleelectronefficiencyisconvoluted intothe pairefficiency withthedecay kinematicsin the simula-tion.
The hadronic sources of dielectron pairs include: Dalitz de-cays
π
0→
γ
e+e−,η
→
γ
e+e− andη
→
γ
e+e−; vectorme-son decays:
ω
→
π
0e+e−,ω
→
e+e−,ρ
0→
e+e−,φ
→
η
e+e−,φ
→
e+e− and J/ψ
→
e+e−; heavy-flavor hadron semi-leptonic decays:cc¯
→
e+e−X ;Drell–Yan. Theρ
mesoncontributionisnot evaluatedinthesimulation,butincludedinthemodelcalculation (as described in Section 3). The bb¯
→
e+e−X process is not in-cludedasit hasnegligiblecontributiontothecocktail inAu+
Au collisionsat√
sNN=
19.
6 GeV.The input hadron spectra to the cocktail are derived from a TsallisBlastWave(TBW)functionfit[26,27]totheNA49 pT
spec-tra of pions, kaons andprotons in Pb
+
Pb at√
sNN=
17.
3 GeV [28], asshown in Fig. 2. Other meson pT spectra are predictedby theTBW function usingthe samefreeze-out parameters from
pT fit ofpions, kaons andprotons. The extra uncertainty caused
bytheinput pT spectraisfoundtobelessthan10%andhasbeen
Table 1
Themesonyields,dN/dy,atmid-rapidityusedinthehadroniccocktailfor0–80% Au+Au collisionsat√sNN=19.6 GeV.Theuncertaintyincludescontributionsfrom
theTBWfitandthemeson-to-pionratio.
Meson yield dN/dy Uncertainty (%)
π0 49.6 8 η 4.22 14 ω 3.42 16 φ 0.89 13 η 0.39 17 J/ψ 2.18×10−4 32
propagatedtothefinalcocktailuncertainty.For J
/ψ
,thepT shapeisdeterminedbyanindependentTBWfunctionfittothe J
/ψ
pTspectrameasuredbyNA50[29].
The
π
0 contribution is obtained by matching the dielectronmass distribution from simulated
π
0→
γ
e+e− andη
→
γ
e+e−decays to the efficiency-corrected dielectron mass spectrum for
Mee
<
0.
1 GeV/
c2. We also match the J/ψ
→
e+e− distributionfromsimulationtothemeasureddielectronproductioninthe cor-respondingmassregion.Themesonyieldsofothermesonsare de-rivedbythemeson-to-pion ratios[7]andthepionyields.
Table 1
lists the integrated yields used inthe simulation at mid-rapidity forAu
+
Au collisionsat√
sNN=
19.
6 GeV.ThebranchingratiosofmesonstodielectronsandtheiruncertaintiesarefromRef.[30]. The e+e− massdistribution fromopenheavy-flavor sources is generated usingPYTHIA 6.416 [31]. Previouscharm cross section
measurementsfromtheSPS,FNAL,STARandPHENIXexperiments
[33] arewell describedby theupperlimitofaFixed-Order Next-to-LeadingLogarithm(FONLL)calculation[34].Thereforeweobtain the charmtotalcrosssection in p
+
p at√
s=
19.
6 GeV byscal-ing the FONLL upper limit to the previous measurements using
the minimum
χ
2 method.Thistotalcross section8.
2±
0.
5 μb isusedtonormalizethedielectronyieldfromthePYTHIAsimulation, whichisadditionallyscaledbythenumberofbinarycollisionsfor Au
+
Au at√
sNN=
19.
6 GeV tobecomparedwiththedata.Forthe efficiency-corrected dielectroninvariant mass distribu-tion,the systematicerrorsaredominatedby uncertainties onthe TPC tracking efficiency (14% in the dielectron yields), the TOF matching efficiency (10% in the dielectron yields), hadron con-tamination(0–20%),andelectronidentification(2%).Thetotal sys-tematic uncertainty on the pair reconstruction efficiency is esti-mated to be 18%. The systematic uncertainties on the like-sign backgroundsubtractionweremainlyfromtheuncertaintiesonthe acceptance difference factors between the unlike-sign and like-sign pairs. The acceptance difference factors were derived using mixed-eventtechnique.Inthemixed-eventtechnique,tracksfrom different eventswere used toform unlike-signor like-sign pairs. Theeventsweredividedintodifferentcategoriesaccordingtothe collision vertex, eventplane, azimuthal angle, andcentrality. The binsizesofcollisionvertex,eventplane,azimuthalangle,and cen-tralitywere chosentobe smallenoughandthetwoeventstobe
mixedmust come fromthesame eventcategory to ensure
simi-lardetectorgeometricacceptance,azimuthal anisotropy,andtrack multiplicities. The uncertainties in the acceptance difference fac-tors were found to be 0.003% andresult in 1% uncertainties for the dielectron signals. Forthe cocktail simulation,the systematic uncertainties come from the uncertainties of particle yields, de-cay branching ratios and form factors. Table 2 lists all the con-tributions tothe systematicuncertainties onthe dielectron mass spectrum andcocktail simulation within the STAR acceptance at
√
sNN
=
19.
6 GeV.After efficiency correction, the dielectron excess mass spec-trum is corrected for the detector acceptance. The acceptance
in-Table 2
Summaryofsystematicuncertaintiesforthemeasureddielectronmass spectrumandsimulatedcocktailwithinSTARdetectoracceptanceinAu+ Au at√sNN=19.6 GeV.Theuncertaintyonhadroncontaminationleads
toamass-dependentuncertaintyforthemeasureddielectroncontinuum. The uncertaintiesofparticle yields,branching ratios,andform factors resultinmass-dependentuncertaintiesforthesimulatedcocktail.
Syst. error (%) Tracking efficiency 14
TOF matching 10
Electron selection 2 Hadron contamination 0–20 Sum of data uncertainties 17–26 Particle yield 8–24 Branching ratio and form factors 1–10 Sum of simulation uncertainties 11–27
Fig. 3. (Coloronline.)Theacceptanceofvirtualphotondecayeddielectronsinthe STARdetectorinAu+Au collisionsat√sNN=19.6 GeV.
putsofvirtualphotonyieldspectra,phasespacedistributions and
decay kinematics. The method is similar to the approach used
by NA60 [35], in which one assumes that the excess yields are frommedium emission.The acceptanceiscalculatedby theyield ratioofreconstructed dielectrons inthe STARdetectorto the in-put dielectrons. Fig. 3 shows the two-dimensional acceptance of the virtual photons with a Gaussian-like rapidity distribution in Au
+
Au at√
sNN=
19.
6 GeV at STAR. Theσ
value of thedis-tribution is 1.5 [35]. The same approach was used in Au
+
Au at√
sNN=
200 GeV except that we used a flat rapiditydistri-bution as our default case. The acceptance correction factor at
√
sNN
=
200 GeV differs from that at√
sNN=
19.
6 GeV by 5%mainlyduetotheinput pT spectraofvirtualphotons.
Forthedielectronexcessmassspectrum,additionalsystematic uncertainties comefromthesubtraction ofthecocktail contribu-tionandtheacceptancecorrection.InAu
+
Au at√
sNN=
200 GeV,thecocktailsimulationisdetailedinRef. [36].Forthecharm cor-relationcontribution,we studiedthefollowingcases: a)keep the directPYTHIAcorrelationbetweenc and
¯
c whichwasusedinour defaultcocktailcalculations;b)breaktheazimuthalangular corre-lationbetweencharmdecayedelectrons completelybutkeep thepT,
η
,andφ
distributionsfromPYTHIA;c)randomlysample twoelectronswiththesingle electron pT,
η
,andφ
distributions fromPYTHIA;andd)based onc), butsample the pT ofeach electron
accordingtothemodified pT distributionfromthemeasurements
ofnon-photonic electronnuclear modification factors in Au
+
Au collisions.The maximal differencebetweencasea)andthe other threeistakenasthesystematicuncertainties onthecharm corre-lationcontribution.Theuncertaintyfromacceptancecorrectioncontains uncertain-ties from the rapidity distribution and input dielectron sources. A uniformrapiditydistributioniscomparedwiththeGaussian-like case, and the resultinguncertainty is 2% in the LMRin Au
+
Au at√
sNN=
19.
6 GeV.For200 GeV,we usedapionrapiditydistri-bution to compare tothe default caseandquoted the difference betweenthem assystematic uncertainty, whichis about2%. The uncertainty from the input pT spectrum is at the same level as
therapiditydistributionuncertainty.
We also obtain the acceptanceof the excess dielectrons from modelcalculations[32].Thedifferencebetweenthesimulationand theoreticalcalculationisabout20%forMee
<
0.
4 GeV/
c2 andlessthan 10%for Mee
>
0.
4 GeV/
c2.Itisincluded intheexcess yielduncertainties.
3. Resultsanddiscussion
The dielectroninvariant massdistribution after efficiency cor-rectionisshownintheupperpanelof
Fig. 4
forAu+
Au collisions at√
sNN=
19.
6 GeV.Itiscomparedwithahadroniccocktailsim-ulation, whichconsists ofall the dielectronhadronic sources ex-cept the
ρ
0.An enhancement ofthe dielectronyield isobservedin the mass region Mee
<
1 GeV/
c2. A model calculation withabroadened
ρ
spectral function[12] isaddedtothehadronic cock-tail andcompared with the data,as shownin the bottom panel ofFig. 4
.The dielectronyields in themodel calculationwere fil-teredby theSTARacceptance(peT
>
0.
2 GeV/
c and|
η
e|
<
1).Themodel calculation involves a realistic space–time evolution, and includescontributionsfromquark–gluon-plasma(QGP),4-pion an-nihilation andin-medium vector meson contributions.The initial temperaturefromthemodelis224MeVandthestarting time
τ
0is 0
.
8 fm/
c [32]. The comparisonof the model withdata shows that a broadenedρ
-spectra scenario isconsistent withthe STAR datawithinuncertainties.Thesameconclusionhasbeendrawnin Au+
Au collisionsat√
sNN=
200 GeV[10].Usingthebroadenedρ
spectral function, QCD andWeinbergsumrules, andinputsfrom Lattice QCD,theorists have demonstrated that when the temper-aturereaches170 MeV, the deriveda1
(
1260)
spectral function isthesameasthein-medium
ρ
spectralfunction,asignatureof chi-ralsymmetryrestoration[37].Toquantifytheyield,theknownhadroniccocktail,cc
¯
→
e+e−Xand Drell–Yancontributions were subtracted from the dielectron mass spectrum at
√
sNN=
19.
6 GeV. At√
sNN=
200 GeV, theknown hadronic sources, cc
¯
→
e+e−X , bb¯
→
e+e−X , and Drell– Yan contributions were subtracted. The excess dielectron mass spectra,correctedfordetectoracceptance,areshowninFig. 5
for Au+
Au MB collisions at√
sNN=
19.
6 and 200 GeV. Thespec-tra are normalized to mid-rapidity dNch
/
dy in absolute termsto cancel out the volume effect, and compared with the excess dimuon yieldsfromthe NA60measurements in In
+
In collisions at√
sNN=
17.
3 GeV. The model calculation [11,32] including abroadened
ρ
spectralfunction andQGPthermalradiationis con-sistent withtheacceptance-correctedexcessinAu+
Au collisions at√
sNN=
19.
6 GeV.Theexcessat√
sNN=
200 GeV ishigherthanthatat
√
sNN=
17.
3 GeV in theLMRandIMR,butwithin 2σ
un-certainty.Furthermeasurementswithbetterprecision areneeded toobtain theaveragetemperatureofthehot,densemedium cre-ated.
Fig. 5 shows that the excess dielectron yield in the LMR at
√
sNN
=
19.
6 GeV has a magnitudesimilar to the excess dimuonyieldat
√
sNN=
17.
3 GeV.Toquantitativelycomparetheexcessinthe LMR, the integratedexcess yields of dielectrons in the mass region 0
.
4<
Mll<
0.
75 GeV/
c2 are shown in Fig. 6 for 0–80%Au
+
Au collisions at√
sNN=
19.
6 and 200 GeV. The results inFig. 4. (Coloronline.)DielectroninvariantmassspectrumintheSTARacceptance(|yee|<1,0.2<peT<3 GeV/c,|ηe|<1)afterefficiencycorrection,comparedwiththe
hadroniccocktailconsistingofthedecaysoflighthadronsandcorrelateddecaysofcharminAu+Au collisionsat√sNN=19.6 GeV.Thedatatococktailratioisshown
inthebottompanel.Theoreticalcalculations[11,32]ofabroadenedρspectralfunctionareshownupto1.5 GeV/c2forcomparison.Systematicuncertaintiesforthedata
pointsareshownasgreenboxes,andthegray bandrepresentstheuncertaintiesforthecocktailsimulation.
Fig. 5. (Coloronline.)Theacceptance-correctedexcessdielectronmassspectra, nor-malizedtothe chargedparticle multiplicityatmid-rapiditydNch/dy,inAu+Au
collisionsat √sNN=19.6 (solidcircles) and 200 GeV(diamonds).The dNch/dy
valuesin Au+Au collisions at √sNN=19.6 and200 GeV are fromRefs. [38]
and[39], respectively.ComparisontotheNA60data[8,40]for In+In collisions at √sNN=17.3 GeV (opencircles)is alsoshown. Barsarestatistical
uncertain-ties,and systematicuncertaintiesareshown asgray boxes. Amodelcalculation (solidcurve)[11,32] with a broadenedρ spectralfunction inhadron gas (HG) andQGPthermalradiationiscomparedwiththeexcessinAu+Au collisionsat
√
sNN=19.6 GeV.ThenormalizationuncertaintyfromtheSTARmeasureddN/dy is
about10%,whichisnotshowninthefigure.
√
sNN
=
200 GeV collisions. The excess yield hasa centralityde-pendence and increases from peripheral to central collisions at
√
sNN
=
200 GeV.ComparingtotheresultsfromIn+
In collisionsat√
sNN
=
17.
3 GeV,theexcess yieldat√
sNN=
19.
6 GeV isconsis-tentwithintheuncertaintieswhiletheexcessat
√
sNN=
200 GeVis higher in central collisions, but within 2
σ
uncertainty. This might indicate that the lifetime of the medium created in cen-tral collisions at√
sNN=
200 GeV is longer than those inpe-ripheral collisions and at
√
sNN=
17.
3 GeV, which enhancesthedileptonproductionfromthermalradiation.Thesame model
cal-Fig. 6. (Coloronline.)Integratedyieldsofthenormalizeddileptonexcessesfor0.4<
Mll<0.75 GeV/c2asafunctionofdNch/dy.Thesolidcircleanddiamondrepresent
theresultsin0–80%Au+Au collisionsat√sNN=19.6 and200 GeV,respectively.
Thesquares arethe resultsfor 40–80%,10–40%,and0–10%Au+Au at√sNN=
200 GeV.TheopencirclerepresentsthedimuonresultfromtheNA60measurement withdNch/dη>30.Barsarestatisticaluncertainties,andsystematicuncertainties
areshownasgray boxes.Thetheoreticallifetimesfor√sNN=200 GeV Au+Au as
afunctionofdNch/dy inthemodelcalculations[19]areshownasadashedcurve.
Thelifetimesfor√sNN=17.3 GeV In+In and√sNN=19.6 GeV Au+Au inthe
samemodelcalculations[19]areshownasthetwohorizontalbars.ThedNch/dy
valuesforthehorizontalbarsareshiftedforclarity.
culations [11,32] that consistently describe the dilepton excesses inthe
√
sNN=
17.
3,
19.
6,and200 GeVA+
Adatagivelifetimesof6
.
8±
1.
0 fm/
c,7.
7±
1.
5 fm/
c,and10.
5±
2.
1 fm/
c forthe17.3 GeV In+
In,19.6 GeVAu+
Au,and200 GeVAu+
Au dataasshowninFig. 6 [19].Inaddition,thelifetimehasastrongcentrality depen-dencein
√
sNN=
200 GeV Au+
Au collisionsinthecalculations,asindicatedbythedashedcurvein
Fig. 6
.Withthetotalbaryon den-sitynearly aconstantandthedileptonemissionratedominantin thecriticaltemperatureregionat√
sNN=
17.
3–200 GeV, themeasurements are proportional to the calculated lifetimes ofthe medium [19]. We note that the lifetimemight be model depen-dent. It is important to have the calculated lifetimes from other modelstoverifythisproportionality.
4. Summary
In summary, the dielectron mass spectrum is measured in
Au
+
Au collisionsat√
sNN=
19.
6 GeV by the STARexperimentatRHIC.Comparedwithknownhadronicsources,asignificant ex-cessisobserved,whichcan beconsistentlydescribed inallbeam energiesby amodel calculationinwhich abroadened
ρ
spectral functionscenarioatlowtemperatureandchiralsymmetry restora-tion are included. Furthermore,the excess dielectron mass spec-tra, corrected for the STAR detector acceptance,are reported for thefirsttime inAu+
Au collisionsat√
sNN=
19.
6 and 200 GeV.Inthe LMR, the excess yield at
√
sNN=
19.
6 GeV, normalized tothe charged particle multiplicity dNch
/
dy, is comparable to thatin In
+
In collisions at√
sNN=
17.
3 GeV. For√
sNN=
200 GeV,the normalized excess yield is higher in central collisions than that at
√
sNN=
17.
3 GeV and increases from peripheral tocen-tral collisions. These measurements indicate that the hot, dense mediumcreated incentral Au
+
Au collisionsattop RHICenergy has a longer lifetime than those in peripheral collisions and at√
sNN
=
17.
3 GeV.Acknowledgements
We thank the RHIC Operations Group and RCF at BNL, the
NERSC Center atLBNL, the KISTI Center in Korea, and the Open ScienceGridconsortiumforprovidingresourcesandsupport.This
workwas supportedinpartby theOfficesofNPandHEP within
theU.S. DOE Officeof Science,the U.S. NSF, CNRS/IN2P3,FAPESP CNPqofBrazil, theMinistryofEducation andScience ofthe Rus-sianFederation, NNSFC,CAS,MoSTandMoEofChina,the Korean ResearchFoundation,GAandMSMToftheCzechRepublic,FIASof Germany,DAE,DST,andCSIRofIndia,theNationalScienceCentre of Poland, National Research Foundation (NRF-2012004024), the MinistryofScience,EducationandSportsoftheRepublicof Croa-tia,andRosAtomofRussia.
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