A new measurement of J/psi suppression in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 GeV per nucleon

TL;DR

This paper reports a new, precise measurement of J/psi suppression in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 GeV per nucleon, confirming previous findings of anomalous suppression in semi-central and central collisions with improved experimental accuracy.

Contribution

It provides the most accurate measurement to date of J/psi suppression in Pb-Pb collisions, especially in peripheral interactions, confirming deviations from normal nuclear absorption patterns.

Findings

Peripheral collisions match nuclear absorption predictions.

Suppression increases in semi-central and central collisions.

Results support the presence of anomalous J/psi suppression.

Abstract

We present a new measurement of J/psi production in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 GeV/nucleon, from the data sample collected in year 2000 by the NA50 Collaboration, under improved experimental conditions with respect to previous years. With the target system placed in vacuum, the setup was better adapted to study, in particular, the most peripheral nuclear collisions with unprecedented accuracy. The analysis of this data sample shows that the (J/psi)/Drell-Yan cross-sections ratio measured in the most peripheral Pb-Pb interactions is in good agreement with the nuclear absorption pattern extrapolated from the studies of proton-nucleus collisions. Furthermore, this new measurement confirms our previous observation that the (J/psi)/Drell-Yan cross-sections ratio departs from the normal nuclear absorption pattern for semi-central Pb-Pb collisions and that this ratio persistently decreases up to the most central collisions.