Date of Award

Spring 1-1-2010

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Physics

First Advisor

James Nagle

Second Advisor

Ed Kinney

Third Advisor

John Cumalat

Abstract

In high-energy heavy ion collisions a partonic state of matter known as the quark-gluon plasma is expected to be formed. The suppression of J/psi meson production in high-energy heavy ion collisions is expected to be a strong signature for the formation of the quark-gluon plasma, due to Debye screening of the quark-antiquark potential. To investigate the state of matter produced in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(sNN)=200 GeV at the PHENIX experiment, we have analyzed forward rapidity J/psi [arrow] μ+μ- production and find that J/psi production is significantly suppressed in collisions at small impact parameter

The analysis methods are presented here, as well as results for J/psi invariant yields and nuclear modification factors as functions of impact parameter and J/psi transverse momentum. The results are compared to previous J/psi measurements in heavy ion collisions, as well as to current theoretical models, and the implications for our understanding of J/psi production and suppression in heavy ion collisions are discussed.

Download

Included in

Nuclear Commons

Share

COinS