Quark Matter 2005 Conference   Quark Matter 2005 Conference


PHENIX Measurement of Particle Yields at High pT
with Respect to Reaction Plane in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(sNN) = 200 GeV

Dr. David L. Winter

Collaboration: PHENIX

Abstract:

One of the most intriguing puzzles in RHIC physics is the origin of the azimuthal anisotropy of particle yields at high pT (> 5 GeV/c). Traditional flow and parton energy loss pictures have failed to describe the magnitude of this anisotropy. Measurement of the azimuthal asymmetry v2 at high pT will shed light on the contributions from flow, recombination, and energy loss, as well as the transition from soft to hard production mechanisms. The PHENIX Run-4 AuAu dataset provides a powerful opportunity for exploring the angular anisotropy of identified particle yields at high pT. Complementing traditional v2 measurements, we present pi0, eta, photon, and charged hadron yields as a function of angle with reaction plane for pT up to 10-16 GeV/c. The centrality dependence of the angular anisotropy allows us to probe the density and path-length dependence of the energy loss of hard-scattered partons. We will use this to discuss various mechanisms for particle production at high pT.


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