Relative yields of antiparticles to particles in Au+Au collisions at 130 and 200 GeV per nucleon pair

Abstract

Au+Au collisions at [square root of] [superscript]s nn = 130 and 200 GeV at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider have opened a new energy regime for studying nucleus-nucleus collisions. A search for the formation of a phase of matter in which quarks and gluons interact strongly over an extended deconfined volume is of primary importance. The PHOBOS detector was constructed to measure many observables at RHIC. The primary subsystem used in this analysis is the PHOBOS spectrometer. The spectrometer is a multiplane silicon pad detector which detects particles traversing its pads as they propagate through a strong magnetic field. The hit positions are used along with energy loss information in the silicon pads to determine both the momentum and velocity of the particles, allowing for the identification of the particle species. One of the most basic pieces of information to be determined is the baryochemical potential of the system. This information has been determined through the measurement of the relative yields of antiparticles to particles in RHIC collisions ... These values are compared to model predictions and are used to evaluate the contribution of baryon transport relative to particle production in determining the yields of baryon at midrapidity in central Au+Au collisions at RHIC energies.