# Measurement of $K_S^0$ and $K^{*0}$ in $p$+$p$, $d$+Au, and Cu+Cu collisions at \sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=200 GeV Abstract : The PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider has performed a systematic study of K_S^0 and K^{*0} meson production at midrapidity in p$+$p, d$+$Au, and Cu$+$Cu collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=200$ GeV. The $K_S^0$ and $K^{*0}$ mesons are reconstructed via their $K_S^0 \rightarrow \pi^0(\rightarrow \gamma\gamma)\pi^0(\rightarrow\gamma\gamma)$ and $K^{*0} \rightarrow K^{\pm}\pi^{\mp}$ decay modes, respectively. The measured transverse-momentum spectra are used to determine the nuclear modification factor of $K_S^0$ and $K^{*0}$ mesons in $d$+Au and Cu+Cu collisions at different centralities. In the d$+$Au collisions, the nuclear modification factor of $K_S^0$ and $K^{*0}$ mesons is almost constant as a function of transverse momentum and is consistent with unity showing that cold-nuclear-matter effects do not play a significant role in the measured kinematic range. In Cu$+$Cu collisions, within the uncertainties no nuclear modification is registered in peripheral collisions. In central collisions, both mesons show suppression relative to the expectations from the $p$+$p$ yield scaled by the number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions in the Cu$+$Cu system. In the $p_T$ range 2--5 GeV/$c$, the strange mesons ($K_S^0$, $K^{*0}$) similarly to the $\phi$ meson with hidden strangeness, show an intermediate suppression between the more suppressed light quark mesons ($\pi^0$) and the nonsuppressed baryons ($p$, $\bar{p}$). At higher transverse momentum, $p_T>5$ GeV/$c$, production of all particles is similarly suppressed by a factor of $\approx$ 2.
Document type :
Journal articles

http://hal.in2p3.fr/in2p3-00992848
Contributor : Sylvie Flores <>
Submitted on : Monday, May 19, 2014 - 1:36:09 PM
Last modification on : Thursday, February 25, 2021 - 10:58:32 AM

### Citation

A. Adare, S. Afanasiev, C. Aidala, N. N. Ajitanand, Y. Akiba, et al.. Measurement of $K_S^0$ and $K^{*0}$ in $p$+$p$, $d$$+$Au, and Cu$+$Cu collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}}=200$ GeV. Physical Review C, American Physical Society, 2014, 90 (5), pp.054905. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevC.90.054905⟩. ⟨in2p3-00992848⟩

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