Measurement of low transverse-momentum direct photons in Cu+Cu collisions at √sNN = 200 GeV
概要
The measurement of direct photons in the experiments of relativistic heavyion collisions is an essential tool for exploring the hot and dense matter created by the collisions. The hot-dense matter, called Quark-Gluon Plasma,
is a new state of matter in which quarks and gluons are deconfined from
nucleons. Direct photons are defined by the photons that they do not arise
from the hadron decays. Photons interact with the electromagnetic force,
while quarks and gluons interact only by the strong force with each other.
Thus, direct photons leave the created medium without interaction with other
particles once produced, and they can carry the QGP information. Therefore, they are an excellent probe into the characteristics of hot-dense matter.
Thermal photons emitted from the hot-dense matter are supposed to be the
dominant contribution at the low transverse-momentum region. They are
expected to reflect the thermodynamic properties. Therefore, measurements
of low transverse-momentum direct-photons are crucial to understanding the
characteristic of QGP. ...