Measurements of the Υ Meson Production in Au + Au Collisions by the STAR Experiment

Abstract

In ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions, creation of a novel state of matter, the quark-gluon plasma (QGP), has been observed. Suppressed production of quarkonia, caused by the colour screening of the binding force, has been proposed as a direct evidence of the QGP formation. At RHIC energies, other phenomena such as the regeneration and co-mover absorption, are expected to have a small effect for the bottomonium family, which makes Υ a cleaner probe of the screening effect compared to the J / ψ meson. In these proceedings, the latest measurements of the Υ production suppression in Au + Au collisions at s NN = 200 GeV via the di-muon and di-electron decay channels by the STAR experiment at RHIC are presented and compared with data from the LHC and theoretical calculations. Moreover, Υ production measurements in p + p and p + Au collisions are also reported, providing a baseline and a quantification of the cold nuclear matter effects, respectively.

Keywords

• upsilon
• quarkonium suppression
• STAR