Search

In the paper, we discuss the development of the multi-gap resistive plate chamber Time-of-Flight (TOF) technology and the production of the STAR TOF detector in China at the beginning of the 21st century. Then we review recent experimental results from the first beam energy scan program (BES-I) at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). Topics cover measurements of collectivity, chirality, criticality, global polarization, strangeness, heavy-flavor, di-lepton and light nuclei productions., Comment: 31 pages, 33 figures. This review is dedicated to Professor Wenqing Shen on the occasion to celebrate his leadership of the Chinese STAR Collaboration, the development and production of the STAR MRPC TOF detector in China and many physics analyses

Azimuthal anisotropy has been ubiquitously observed in high-energy proton-proton, proton-nucleus, and nucleus-nucleus (heavy-ion) collisions, shaking the early belief that those anisotropies must stem from utterly strong interactions. This work reports a study of anisotropic expansion of cold $^{6}$Li Fermi gases, initially trapped in an anisotropic potential, as a function of the interaction strength that can be readily tuned by an external magnetic field. It is found that the expansion anisotropy builds up quickly at small interaction strength, without the need of utterly strong interactions. A universal behavior of the expansion anisotropy is quantitatively observed between cold-atom and heavy-ion systems, despite their vast differences in physics. This universality will potentially unify a variety of disciplines in nature, from the weakly interacting dilute systems of gases to the strongly interacting quark-gluon plasma of the early universe., Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures

Chiral Magnetic Effect (CME) is a phenomenon in which electric charge is separated by a strong magnetic field from local domains of chirality imbalance in quantum chromodynamics. The CME-sensitive, azimuthal correlator difference $\Delta\gamma$ between opposite-sign (OS) and same-sign (SS) charged hadron pairs is contaminated by a major physics background proportional to the particle elliptic anisotropy ($v_2$). The CME signal, on the other hand, contributes to the difference in the pair elliptic anisotropies between OS and SS pairs ($\Delta v_{2,\rm pair}$). We investigate $\Delta v_{2,\rm pair}$ and found its sensitivity to CME to be similar to that of the $\Delta\gamma$ observable., Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures

The hexadecapole deformation ($\beta_4$) of the $^{238}$U nucleus has not been determined because its effect is overwhelmed by those from the nucleus' large quadrupole deformation ($\beta_2$) in nuclear electric transition measurements. In this Letter, we identify the nonlinear response of the hexadecapole anisotropy to ellipticity in relativistic $^{238}$U+ $^{238}$U collisions that is solely sensitive to $\beta_4$ and insensitive to $\beta_2$. We demonstrate this by state-of-the-art hydrodynamic calculations and discuss the prospects of discovering the $\beta_4$ of $^{238}$U in heavy-ion data at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, published version

Hydrodynamics can describe majority of the measured azimuthal anisotropies in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Many of the anisotropy measurements are contaminated by nonflow correlations (i.e., those unrelated to global event-wise correlations). Those nonflow contamination can cause incorrectness or compromise the accuracy of the physics extracted from data-hydrodynamics comparison, particularly when one relies on subtle difference in the measurements. In the recent preprint by STAR (arXiv:2401.06625) extracting the Uranium nucleus deformation parameter, nonflow contamination is assessed by subevents in the limited STAR acceptance. In this note, we demonstrate that such assessment is inadequate and illustrate how large an effect nonflow can cause by using the HIJING model, in which all correlations are nonflow and non-hydrodynamic. We thereby conclude that the extracted Uranium deformation parameter is premature and emphasize the importance of an earnest assessment of or correction for nonflow contamination, not only for this STAR analysis but more generally for studies relying on comparing anisotropy measurements to hydrodynamic calculations., Comment: 9 pages, 4 figs. This note points out a severe underestimation of nonflow in the recent STAR preprint (arXiv:2401.06625) and deems the extracted uranium deformation parameter premature. The note emphasizes, in general terms, the importance of rigorous nonflow estimation before comparing experimental anisotropy measurements to theoretical hydrodynamic calculations to extract quantitative physics

We use a coalescence model to generate $f_{0}$(980) particles for four configurations: ${s\bar{s}}$ meson, ${u\bar{u}s\bar{s}}$ tetraquark, ${K^{+}K^{-}}$ molecule and $u\bar{u}$ p-wave state. The phase-space information of the coalescing constituents is taken from a multi-phase transport (AMPT) simulation of proton-proton and proton-lead collisions at the LHC. It is shown that the transverse momentum spectra and production yields of $f_0(980)$ differ significantly among the configurations. It is suggested that the $p_T$ spectra of the $f_0(980)$ compared to those of other hadrons (such as pion) and the ratio of the $f_0(980)$ $p_T$ spectra in pPb over pp can be exploited to tell the configuration of the $f_0(980)$.

Relativistic isobar ($^{96}_{44}$Ru+$^{96}_{44}$Ru and $^{96}_{40}$Zr+$^{96}_{40}$Zr) collisions have revealed intricate differences in their nuclear size and shape, inspiring unconventional studies of nuclear structure using relativistic heavy ion collisions. In this study, we investigate the relative differences in the mean multiplicity ($R_{\langle N_{\rm ch}\rangle}$) and the second- ($R_{\epsilon_{2}}$) and third-order eccentricity ($R_{\epsilon_{3}}$) between isobar collisions using initial state models. It is found that initial fluctuations and nuclear deformations have negligible effects on $R_{\langle N_{\rm ch}\rangle}$ in most central collisions, while both are important for the $R_{\epsilon_{2}}$ and $R_{\epsilon_{3}}$, the degree of which is sensitive to the underlying nucleonic or sub-nucleonic degree of freedom. These features, compared to real data, may probe the particle production mechanism and the physics underlying nuclear structure., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures

We celebrate the legacies of our friend and mentor Professor Lianshou Liu who was one of the pioneers for the phenomenology of multi-particle interactions and initiated the physics of relativistic heavy-ion collisions in China. In this article, we discuss some of the recent exciting experimental observations on the collective phenomena including collectivity, chirality, criticality, strangeness production, and thermal equilibrium in high-energy nuclear collisions. Future directions, especially the physics at high baryon density, will be discussed with a focus on the first-order phase boundary and hyperon-nucleon interactions., Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures

The nuclear equation of state (EOS) is at the center of numerous theoretical and experimental efforts in nuclear physics. With advances in microscopic theories for nuclear interactions, the availability of experiments probing nuclear matter under conditions not reached before, endeavors to develop sophisticated and reliable transport simulations to interpret these experiments, and the advent of multi-messenger astronomy, the next decade will bring new opportunities for determining the nuclear matter EOS, elucidating its dependence on density, temperature, and isospin asymmetry. Among controlled terrestrial experiments, collisions of heavy nuclei at intermediate beam energies (from a few tens of MeV/nucleon to about 25 GeV/nucleon in the fixed-target frame) probe the widest ranges of baryon density and temperature, enabling studies of nuclear matter from a few tenths to about 5 times the nuclear saturation density and for temperatures from a few to well above a hundred MeV, respectively. Collisions of neutron-rich isotopes further bring the opportunity to probe effects due to the isospin asymmetry. However, capitalizing on the enormous scientific effort aimed at uncovering the dense nuclear matter EOS, both at RHIC and at FRIB as well as at other international facilities, depends on the continued development of state-of-the-art hadronic transport simulations. This white paper highlights the essential role that heavy-ion collision experiments and hadronic transport simulations play in understanding strong interactions in dense nuclear matter, with an emphasis on how these efforts can be used together with microscopic approaches and neutron star studies to uncover the nuclear EOS., Comment: White paper prepared for the 2023 Long Range Plan. v3: Updated version as published in Progress in Particle and Nuclear Physics. Note: the published version does not include the executive summary; in the updated arXiv version, the executive summary is included as an appendix. v4: Corrected list of authors

The experimental status is reviewed on the search for the chiral magnetic effect (CME) in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Emphasis is put on background contributions to the CME-sensitive charge correlation measurements and their effects on data interpretation., Comment: Invited talk presented at the XXIXth International Conference on Ultra-relativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions (Quark Matter 2022). v2: minor changes to text and refs to conform to page limit

Due to the dynamics and uncertainty of the dynamic multi-objective optimization problems (DMOPs), it is difficult for algorithms to find a satisfactory solution set before the next environmental change, especially for some complex environments. One reason may be that the information in the environmental static stage can not be used well in the traditional framework. In this paper, a novel framework based on generational and environmental response strategies (FGERS) is proposed, in which response strategies are run both in the environmental change stage and the environmental static stage to obtain population evolution information of those both stages. Unlike in the traditional framework, response strategies are only run in the environmental change stage. For simplicity, the feed-forward center point strategy was chosen to be the response strategy in the novel dynamic framework (FGERS-CPS). FGERS-CPS is not only to predict change trend of the optimum solution set in the environmental change stage, but to predict the evolution trend of the population after several generations in the environmental static stage. Together with the feed-forward center point strategy, a simple memory strategy and adaptive diversity maintenance strategy were used to form the complete FGERS-CPS. On 13 DMOPs with various characteristics, FGERS-CPS was compared with four classical response strategies in the traditional framework. Experimental results show that FGERS-CPS is effective for DMOPs.

In a recent preprint arXiv:2203.10029, the authors argue for a multiplicity scaling of the squared inverse width of the $R_{\Psi_{2}}$ distribution to claim a positive signal for the chiral magnetic effect from STAR's isobar data, in stark contradiction to the conclusion reached by the STAR Collaboration. This Comment points out the fallacy of their arguments and reinforces the STAR conclusion., Comment: Three pages, 1 figure

Transverse momentum ($p_{T}$) generation in relativistic heavy ion collisions is sensitive to the initial geometry and the final-state bulk evolution. We demonstrate with hydrodynamic calculations that the mean $p_T$ ratio ($R_{\langle p_{T}\rangle}$) between the highly similar isobar $^{96}_{44}$Ru+$^{96}_{44}$Ru and $^{96}_{40}$Zr+$^{96}_{40}$Zr collisions is insensitive to the bulk evolution and remains sensitive to the small difference in the initial nuclear structure (neutron skin and deformation) between the Ru and Zr nuclei.We further find that nuclear deformation can produce an anticorrelation between $R_{\langle p_{T}\rangle}$ and eccentricity (or elliptic flow) in central collisions. These findings suggest that the $R_{\langle p_{T}\rangle}$ between the isobar systems can be used to measure the neutron skin thickness and deformation parameters, which can in turn constrain the nuclear symmetry energy slope parameter., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures

Correlation measurements with respect to the spectator and participant planes in relativistic heavy ion collisions were proposed to extract the chiral magnetic effect (CME) from background dominated azimuthal correlators. This paper investigates the effects of two- and three-particle nonflow correlations on the extracted CME signal fraction, $f_{\text{CME}}$. It is found, guided by a multiphase transport (AMPT) model and the heavy ion jet interaction generator (HIJING) together with experimental data, that the nonflow effects amount to approximately $(4\pm5)$% and $(-5\pm3)$% without and with pseudorapidity gaps, respectively, in 20-50% centrality Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\text{NN}}}= 200 \text{ GeV}$., Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, 1 table

The chiral magnetic effect (CME) is a novel transport phenomenon, arising from the interplay between quantum anomalies and strong magnetic fields in chiral systems. In high-energy nuclear collisions, the CME may survive the expansion of the quark-gluon plasma fireball and be detected in experiments. Over the past decade, the experimental searches for the CME have aroused extensive interest at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The main goal of this article is to investigate three pertinent experimental approaches: the $\gamma$ correlator, the $R$ correlator and the signed balance functions. We will exploit both simple Monte Carlo simulations and a realistic event generator (EBE-AVFD) to verify the equivalence in the kernel-component observables among these methods and to ascertain their sensitivities to the CME signal for the isobaric collisions at RHIC., Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables. Extended the discussion on R observable with the consideration of multiplicity fluctuation as used in practice

Neutron skin thickness ($\Delta r_{\rm np}$) of nuclei and the inferred nuclear symmetry energy are of critical importance to nuclear physics and astrophysics. It is traditionally measured by nuclear processes with significant theoretical uncertainties. We recently proposed an indirect measurement of the $\Delta r_{\rm np}$ by charged hadron multiplicities in central isobaric collisions at relativistic energies, which are sensitive to nuclear densities. In this Letter, we propose a direct measurement of the $\Delta r_{\rm np}$ by using net-charge multiplicities in ultra-peripheral (grazing) collisions of those isobars, under the assumption that they are simple superimposition of nucleon-nucleon interactions. We illustrate this novel approach by the TRENTO and URQMD models., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, version published in PRC

Isobaric $^{96}_{44}$Ru+$^{96}_{44}$Ru and $^{96}_{40}$Zr+$^{96}_{40}$Zr collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=200$ GeV have been conducted at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider to circumvent the large flow-induced background in searching for the chiral magnetic effect (CME), predicted by the topological feature of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). Considering that the background in isobar collisions is approximately twice that in Au+Au collisions (due to the smaller multiplicity) and the CME signal is approximately half (due to the weaker magnetic field), we caution that the CME may not be detectable with the collected isobar data statistics, within $\sim$2$\sigma$ significance, if the axial charge per entropy density ($n_5/s$) and the QCD vacuum transition probability are system independent. This expectation is generally verified by the Anomalous-Viscous Fluid Dynamics (AVFD) model. While our estimate provides an approximate "experimental" baseline, theoretical uncertainties on the CME remain large., Comment: 6 pages, 1 multi-panel figure. v2: version after addressing referee comments. Corrected a factor 2 error in the quoted multiplicity; corrected a factor 2 error in the A-dependence exponent of the magnetic field; conclusions unchanged. v3: match published version

The effects of neutron skin on the multiplicity ($N_{\rm ch}$) and eccentricity($\epsilon_2$) in relativistic $^{96}_{44}$Ru+$^{96}_{44}$Ru and $^{96}_{40}$Zr+$^{96}_{40}$Zr collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{\rm NN}}}=200$ GeV are investigated with the Trento model. It is found that the Ru+Ru/Zr+Zr ratios of the $N_{\rm ch}$ distributions and $\epsilon_{2}$ in mid-central collisions are exquisitely sensitive to the neutron skin type (skin vs.~halo). The state-of-the-art calculations by energy density functional theory (DFT) favor the halo-type neutron skin and can soon be confronted by experimental data. It is demonstrated that the halo-type density can serve as a good surrogate for the DFT density, and thus can be efficiently employed to probe nuclear deformities by using elliptic flow data in central collisions. We provide hereby a proof-of-principle venue to simultaneously determine the neutron skin type, thickness, and nuclear deformity., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. Version published in PLB. Typo in Eq.3 is corrected

Background: The chiral magnetic effect (CME) is extensively studied in heavy-ion collisions at RHIC and the LHC. An azimuthal correlator called $R_{\Psi_{m}}$ was proposed to measure the CME. By observing the same $R_{\Psi_{2}}$ and $R_{\Psi_{3}}$ (convex) distributions from A Multi-Phase Transport (AMPT) model, by contrasting data and model as well as large and small systems and by event shape engineering (ESE), a recent preprint (arXiv:2006.04251v1) from STAR suggests that the $R_{\Psi_{m}}$ observable is sensitive to the CME signal and relatively insensitive to backgrounds, and their Au+Au data are inconsistent with known background contributions. Purpose: We examine those claims by studying the robustness of the $R_{\Psi_{m}}$ observable using AMPT as well as toy model simulations. We compare $R_{\Psi_{m}}$ to the more widely used $\Delta\gamma$ azimuthal correlator to identify their commonalities and differences. Methods: We use AMPT to simulate Au+Au, p+Au, and d+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200 \text{ GeV}$, and study the responses of $R_{\Psi_{m}}$ to anisotropic flow backgrounds in the model. We also use a toy model to simulate resonance flow background and input CME signal to investigate their effects in $R_{\Psi_{2}}$. Additionally we use the toy model to perform an ESE analysis to compare to STAR data as well as predict the degree of sensitivity of $R_{\Psi_{2}}$ to isobar collisions with the event statistics taken at RHIC. ..., Comment: 18 pages, 13 figures

This note points out an apparent error in the publication Phys.~Lett.~B {\bf 809} (2020) 135771 by Magdy, Nie, Ma, and Lacey., Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure, 1 table