Speaker
Melynda Brooks
(Los Alamos National Laboratory)
Description
PHENIX installed and commissioned a forward silicon vertex tracker
(FVTX) in 2012. The complete detector covers the rapidity range of
$1.2 < |y| < 2.2$, and each arm has full azimuthal coverage. This
acceptance matches that of the PHENIX muon arms. With the barrel
silicon vertex detector, the FVTX greatly improves tracking to the
collision vertex, and is able to identify secondary particles from
in-flight decays. We present the current status of the analysis of
$c$ and $b$ production in Cu$+$Au collisions at
$\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=200$~GeV using the distance of closest approach to
the event vertex of inclusive decay muons, and of $b$ production
from J/$\psi$ decay. We will also show the current status of a
study of $\psi^{\prime}$ production in Cu$+$Au collisions.
Preliminary results on a reference measurement of $\psi^{\prime}$ in
$p$$+$$p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 510$~GeV will be shown. The $c$
and $b$ yields in Cu$+$Au collisions provide insight into the
rapidity dependence of energy loss of heavy flavor in hot nuclear
matter. The Cu$+$Au collisions also offer the opportunity to study
$\psi^{\prime}$ dissociation relative to that of the J/$\psi$ as a
function of path length in the nuclear medium.
| On behalf of collaboration: | PHENIX |
|---|
Primary author
Melynda Brooks
(Los Alamos National Laboratory)
