Specific Heat of Nuclear Medium Probed by K.sub.S./sub..sup.0./sup. Mesons Produced in Au+Au Collisions at RHIC

0571097 - ÚJF 2023 RIV RU eng J - Journal Article
Tokarev, M. V. - Zborovský, Imrich
Specific Heat of Nuclear Medium Probed by K_S⁰ Mesons Produced in Au+Au Collisions at RHIC.
Physics of Atomic Nuclei. Roč. 85, č. 6 (2022), s. 981-987. ISSN 1063-7788. E-ISSN 1562-692X
Institutional support: RVO:61389005
Keywords : RHIC * heavy ion collisions
OECD category: Particles and field physics
Impact factor: 0.4, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Limited access
https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063778823010568

The energy and centrality dependence of KS0-meson spectra measured by the STAR Collaboration at RHIC in Au+Au collisions over a wide range of √sNN=7.7-200 GeV was studied in the z-scaling approach. The scaling function ψ(z) was constructed and the self-similarity of KS0-meson production was confirmed. This observation is consistent with an abrupt decrease of the model parameter cAuAu from the value of 0.16 at √sNN=7.7 and 11.5 GeV to about 0.09 at the top RHIC energy. The scaling parameter is interpreted as a specific heat of the produced medium. The non-trivial dependence of cAuAu on the collision energy shows that KS0 meson is much more sensitive to properties of nuclear medium than a non-identified negative hadron. The irregularities in the behavior of the specific heat parameter cAuAu are considered as a possible indication of phase transition in nuclear matter.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0342399