Measurement of global variables and correlations of positive and negative tracks produced in silicon on lead interactions at 14.6 GeV/c per incident nucleon at the AGS.
Item
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Title
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Measurement of global variables and correlations of positive and negative tracks produced in silicon on lead interactions at 14.6 GeV/c per incident nucleon at the AGS.
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Identifier
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AAI9707085
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identifier
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9707085
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Creator
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Efstathiadis, Efstratios.
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Contributor
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Advisers: Seymour J. Lindenbaum | Martin A. Kramer
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Date
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1996
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Physics, Nuclear | Physics, Elementary Particles and High Energy
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Abstract
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Relativistic heavy ion collisions provide a unique experimental tool to study strongly interacting matter at extreme conditions of density and temperature. It is predicted that under such extreme conditions the basic structure of hadronic matter should undergo a fundamental change (a phase transition) from a system of nucleons and mesons to a phase of deconfined quarks and gluons, a phase known as quark-gluon plasma (QGP). The goal of relativistic heavy ion collisions is to determine the thermodynamic properties of the state produced in energetic nuclear collisions and understand the phase structure as these states evolve from the initial collision to the burst of particles that reach the detectors.;This thesis provides important information on the production of positive and negative particles in relativistic Si on Pb collisions (experiment E810) at the AGS. We present the results of the analysis of 12051 central events. Rapidity, transverse mass distributions and inverse exponential and Boltzmann slopes for negative pions and protons are presented. A low transverse mass enhancement in the production of negative pions was observed, which can give an estimate of the number of excited nucleons in our data. We estimated an average of 1.8 pions per participating nucleon are produced. Rapidity and transverse energy distributions play an important role in the discussions of nuclear stopping, a paramount element in estimates of the temperature and densities of the large volume of hot compressed, nuclear matter after a central nuclear collision. Positive-negative track correlations were observed in our data and were used to get an estimate of the population of excited nucleons, and thus the temperature of the system ({dollar}\approx{dollar}81MeV in the forward rapidity region).;The RANDOM event generator is introduced and used to study strangeness production in heavy ion collisions at the AGS.;A thorough understanding of the reaction mechanisms in relativistic heavy ion collisions is an important prerequisite in any search for quark-gluon plasma production. Global quantities have proven to be valuable tools for understanding the reaction mechanisms.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
