J/$\psi$ production at high transverse momenta in p+p and Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_{NN}) = 200 GeV

TL;DR

This paper investigates high transverse momentum J/ψ production in proton-proton and gold-gold collisions at 200 GeV, revealing suppression patterns in heavy-ion collisions and comparing results to theoretical models.

Contribution

It provides new measurements of J/ψ spectra at high p_T in different collision systems and compares suppression levels to other particles, enhancing understanding of quarkonium production and suppression mechanisms.

Findings

Significant suppression of J/ψ at high p_T in central Au+Au collisions.

No suppression observed in semi-peripheral Au+Au collisions.

Suppression less than that of high-p_T pions and low-p_T J/ψ.

Abstract

We report $J/\psi$ spectra for transverse momenta $p_T$> 5 GeV/$c$ at mid-rapidity in p+p and Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_{NN}) = 200 GeV.The inclusive $J/\psi$ spectrum and the extracted $B$-hadron feed-down are compared to models incorporating different production mechanisms. We observe significant suppression of the $J/\psi$ yields for $p_T$> 5 GeV/$c$ in 0-30% Au+Au collisions relative to the p+p yield scaled by the number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions in Au+Au collisions. In 30-60% collisions, no such suppression is observed.The level of suppression is consistently less than that of high-$p_T$ $\pi^{\pm}$ and low-$p_T$ $J/\psi$.