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246 records were found.

Low mass dimuon production in proton-nucleus collisions with the NA60 apparatus

During the June 2002 run NA60 collected around 600 000 dimuon triggers in proton-nucleus collisions at 400 GeV. We show that the collected dimuon mass spectra can be understood in terms of known sources. The specific target setup, consisting of Beryllium, Indium and Lead targets, simultaneously exposed to the beam, allowed to study the nuclear dependence of the production cross-section of the $\omega$ and $\phi$ resonances. The elementary nucleon-nucleon production cross-sections at 400 GeV for the $\rho, \omega$ and $\phi$ mesons are also presented. By using the $\eta$-Dalitz decay, dominating the mass range below 450 MeV, we, furthermore, extracted the $\eta$ production cross-section and its nuclear dependence. The results are discussed in the framework of previous measurements, mostly obtained in different decay channels, performed ...

A comparative measurement of $\phi\rightarrow K^+K^-$ and $\phi\rightarrow \mu^+\mu^-$ in In-In collisions at the CERN SPS

The NA60 experiment at the CERN SPS has studied $\phi$ meson production in In-In collisions at 158A GeV via both the $K^+K^-$ and the $\mu^+\mu^-$ decay channels. The yields and inverse slope parameters of the $m_T$ spectra observed in the two channels are compatible within errors, different from the large discrepancies seen in Pb-Pb collisions between the hadronic (NA49) and dimuon (NA50) decay channels. Possible physics implications are discussed.

J/psi production in proton-nucleus collisions at 158 and 400 GeV

The NA60 experiment has studied J/psi production in p-A collisions at 158 and 400 GeV, at the CERN SPS. Nuclear effects on the J/psi yield have been estimated from the A-dependence of the production cross section ratios sigma_{J/psi}^{A}/sigma_{J/psi}^{Be} (A=Al, Cu, In, W, Pb, U). We observe a significant nuclear suppression of the J/psi yield per N-N collision, with a larger effect at lower incident energy, and we compare this result with previous observations by fixed-target experiments. By studying, at the two energies, the dependence of nuclear effects on x_2, the fraction of nucleon momentum carried by the interacting parton from the target nucleus, we conclude that a combination of nuclear shadowing and break-up by target nucleons cannot be the only source of nuclear suppression of the J/psi.

phi production in In–In collisions at 158 A GeV

The NA60 experiment at the CERN SPS studied phi production in In–In collisions at 158 A GeV via muon and kaon decay channels. The yields and transverse mass spectra observed in the two channels are compatible within errors. The results are compared to the previous measurements in Pb–Pb collisions, where large discrepancies were observed between NA50 (muon pairs) and NA49 (kaon pairs).

$\phi$ Production in In-In Collisions at 158 AGeV

The NA60 experiment has measured muon pair production in In-In collisions at 158 AGeV at the CERN SPS. This paper presents a high statistics measurement of $\phi\to\mu\mu$ meson production. Differential spectra, yields, mass and width are measured as a function of centrality and compared to previous measurements in other colliding systems at the same energy. The width of the rapidity distribution is found to be constant as a function of centrality, compatible with previous results. The decay muon polar angle distribution is measured in several reference frames. No evidence of polarization is found as a function of transverse momentum and centrality. The analysis of the $p_{T}$ spectra shows that the $\phi$ has a small radial flow, implying a weak coupling to the medium. The $T_{eff}$ parameter measured in In-In collisions suggests that...

Highlights from NA60

NA60 measured dimuon production in p-A and In-In collisions at the CERN SPS. This paper presents a high statistics measurement of $\phi$ meson production in In-In collisions at 158 AGeV. Both the transverse momentum, rapidity, decay angular distributions and the absolute yield were measured as a function of centrality. The results are compared to previous measurements in order to shed light on the long standing $\phi$ puzzle. In addition, highlights on $\eta$ meson production and on the dimuon excess below the J/$\psi$ mass are presented.

NA60 results on thermal dimuons

The NA60 experiment at the CERN SPS has measured muon pairs with unprecedented precision in 158A GeV In-In collisions. A strong excess of pairs above the known sources is observed in the whole mass region 0.2 rho -> mu+mu- annihilation. The associated rho spectral function shows a strong broadening, but essentially no shift in mass. For M>1 GeV, the excess is found to be prompt, not due to enhanced charm production, with pronounced differences to Drell-Yan pairs. The slope parameter Teff associated with the transverse momentum spectra rises with mass up to the rho, followed by a sudden decline above. The rise for M<1 GeV is consistent with radial flow of a hadronic emission source. The seeming absence of significant flow for M>1 GeV and its relation to parton-hadron duality is discussed in detail, suggesting a dominantly partonic emiss...

Study of the electromagnetic transition form-factors in \eta -> \mu^+\mu^-\gamma and \omega -> \mu^+\mu^-\pi^0 decays with NA60

The NA60 experiment at the CERN SPS has studied low-mass muon pairs in 158A GeV In-In collisions. The mass and pT spectra associated with peripheral collisions can quantitatively be described by the known neutral meson decays. The high data quality has allowed to remeasure the electromagnetic transition form factors of the Dalitz decays \eta -> \mu^+\mu^-\gamma and \omega -> \mu^+\mu^-\pi^0. Using the usual pole approximation F = (1-M_{\mu\mu}^{2}/\Lambda^{2})^{-1} for the form factors, we find \Lambda^{-2} (in GeV^{-2}) to be 1.95+-0.17(stat.)+-0.05(syst.) for the \eta and 2.24+-0.06(stat.)+-0.02(syst.) for the \omega. While the values agree with previous results from the Lepton-G experiment, the errors are greatly improved, confirming now on the level of 10\sigma the strong enhancement of the \omega form factor beyond the expectation...

Results from NA60 experiment at the CERN-SPS

The NA60 experiment studies open charm and prompt dimuon production in proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions at the CERN SPS. During 2003 the experiment collected data in indium-indium collisions at 158 GeV per nucleon. In this paper the first results on low mass dimuons, open charm production and J/$\psi$ suppression are presented.