Results from the NA50 experiment on J/Psi suppression in Pb-Pb collisions at the CERN SPS

Authors
Monteno, M Abreu, MC Alessandro, B Alexa, C Arnaldi, R Atayan, M Baglin, C Baldit, A Bedjidian, M Beole, S Boldea, V Bordalo, P Bussiere, A Capelli, L Casagrande, L Castor, J Chambon, T Chaurand, B Chevrot, I Cheynis, B Chiavassa, E Cicalo, C Claudino, T Comets, MP Constans, N Constantinescu, S De Marco, N Dellacasa, G Devaux, A Dita, S Drapier, O Espagnon, B Fargeix, J Force, P Gallio, M Gavrilov, YK Gerschel, C Giubellino, P Golubeva, MB Gonin, M Grigorian, AA Grossiord, JY Guichard, A Gulkanyan, H Hakobyan, R Haroutunian, R Idzik, M Jouan, D Karavitcheva, TL Kluberg, L Kurepin, AB Le Bornec, Y Macciotta, P Mac Cormick, M Marzari-Chiesa, A Masera, M Masoni, A Mehrabyan, S Monteno, M Musso, A Petiau, P Piccotti, A Pizzi, JR Prino, F Puddu, G Quintans, C Ramos, S Ramello, L Mendes, PR Riccati, L Romana, A Ropotar, I Saturnini, P Scomparin, E Serci, S Shahoyan, R Silva, S Sitta, M Soave, C Sonderegger, P Tarrago, X Topilskaya, NS Usai, GL Vercellin, E Villatte, L Willis, N
Citation
M. Monteno et al., Results from the NA50 experiment on J/Psi suppression in Pb-Pb collisions at the CERN SPS, NUCL PH B-P, 92, 2001, pp. 43-54
Citations number
28
Categorie Soggetti
Physics
Journal title
NUCLEAR PHYSICS B-PROCEEDINGS SUPPLEMENTS
ISSN journal
09205632 → ACNP
Volume
92
Year of publication
2001
Pages
43 - 54
Database
ISI
SICI code
0920-5632(200102)92:<43:RFTNEO>2.0.ZU;2-O
Abstract
The NA50 experiment has measured, at the CERN SPS: the dimuon production in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 GeV/c per nucleon, following the program of the pr evious NA38 and NA51 experiments, performed with proton and light ion beams . The J/psi production has been studied by NA50 as a function of the centra lity of the collisions. The results of the analyses performed on three data samples, collected from 1995 to 1998 show that for peripheral collisions t he J/Psi cross section can be understood in terms of ordinary nuclear absor ption: consistently with the extrapolation of previous measurements extendi ng from p-p to S-U. On the contrary, the central events show an anomalous J /Psi suppression, and the pattern of J/Psi yield versus centrality features two discontinuities that cannot be described by conventional models based on hadronic scenarios. These results can be considered as a strong indicati on of the creation of a new state of matter in central Pb-Pb collisions at the SPS.