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# High-𝑝_𝑇 Charged Hadron Suppression in 𝐴𝑢+𝐴𝑢 Collisions at √𝑠_{𝑁𝑁} = 200 GeV

## I INTRODUCTION

Lattice Quantum-Chromo-Dynamic (QCD) calculations predict a new state of matter of deconfined quarks and gluons at an energy density exceeding $``$1 GeV/$`fm^3`$ latt01 . It has long been suggested that such a “quark gluon plasma” may be produced in collisions between ultra-relativistic heavy nuclei latt02 . Indeed, measurements of transverse energy produced in high energy $`Pb+Pb`$ and $`Au+Au`$ collision suggest that energy densities above 3 GeV/$`fm^3`$ at SPS na49  and 5 GeV/$`fm^3`$ at RHIC ppg002 ; sasha  have been reached. However, this conclusion relies on model assumptions bjorken ; Teaney ; Kolb ; Florkowski  to relate the properties of the hadronic final state to the initial state dynamics.

The spectra of high transverse momentum ($`p_T`$) hadrons resulting from the fragmentation of hard-scattered partons potentially provide a direct probe of the properties of the initial state. Theoretical calculations show that the outgoing high-$`p_T`$ partons radiate substantially more energy when propagating through dense matter than when propagating in the vacuum, resulting in a softening of the hadron $`p_T`$ spectrum Gyu90 , with the energy loss of the partons depending on the gluon density of the matter BDMPS ; baier . Formation time considerations suggest that hard scattered partons are “produced” at the earliest stage of the collision, thus directly probe the dense matter from the time of their creation. Therefore, a detailed analysis of high-$`p_T`$ hadron production may reveal information on the properties of the dense medium created early in the collisions xnwang1 ; xnwang2 ; baier .

At the energies reached at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), high-$`p_T`$ hadrons are copiously produced. In nucleon-nucleon collisions, it has been well established that hadrons with $`p_T`$ 2 GeV/$`c`$ result primarily from the fragmentation of hard-scattered partons, and that the $`p_T`$ spectra of these hadrons can be calculated using perturbative QCD (pQCD) owens1 ; ppg024 . Initial measurements of hadron $`p_T`$ spectra in $`Au+Au`$ collisions at $`\sqrt{s_{NN}}`$ = 130 GeV led to the discovery of a substantial suppression of hadron yields per nucleon-nucleon collision relative to pp data ppg003 ; star ; ppg013 . Data from $`\sqrt{s_{NN}}`$ = 200 GeV confirm these results phobosch ; ppg014 ; starch ; brahmsch . The suppression is observed in central but not in peripheral collisions. These observations are consistent with pQCD-inspired modelling of parton energy loss in dense matter xnwang3 ; levai . However, alternative interpretations that do not assume the formation of a deconfined phase have been proposed based on the modifications of the parton distribution functions in the initial state dima  or final-state hadronic interactions gallmeister .

In addition to hadron suppression, an unexpectedly large fraction of baryons has been observed in central $`Au+Au`$ collisions for $`p_T`$ up to 4–5 GeV/$`c`$ ppg006 ; ppg015 ; starks , which complicates the interpretation of the high $`p_T`$ results. The observed baryon to meson ratio from PHENIX ppg015  is inconsistent with jet fragmentation in $`p+p`$ ISR  and $`e^+e^{}`$ collisions delphi . While the origin of this effect is unclear, it could point towards bulk particle production (“soft physics”) contributing to the $`p_T`$ spectra out to 4–5 GeV/$`c`$. It has been suggested that coalescence of thermalized quarks combining with energy loss of hard-scattered partons can account for the unusual particle composition, which shifts the region dominated by hard-scattering to higher $`p_T`$ coalence .

Systematic measurements of the $`p_T`$, centrality, particle species, and $`\sqrt{s_{NN}}`$ dependence of the suppression can constrain competing descriptions of high-$`p_T`$ hadron production. In this paper, we present new data on inclusive charged hadron production for $`0.5<p_T<10`$ GeV/$`c`$, measured over a broad range of centrality in $`Au+Au`$ collisions at $`\sqrt{s_{NN}}`$ = 200 GeV by the PHENIX Collaboration at RHIC. These data are compared to data on neutral pion production ppg014  and to data from $`Au+Au`$ collisions at $`\sqrt{s_{NN}}`$ = 130 GeV ppg003 ; ppg013 , all measured within the same experiment.

The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. Section II gives a detailed account of the charged particle analysis. Centrality and $`p_T`$ dependence of the charged hadron $`p_T`$ spectra are discussed in Section III.1. Section III.2 studies the charged hadron suppression and compares the results to $`\pi ^0`$ data. In Section III.3, we discuss the $`\sqrt{s_{NN}}`$ dependence of both charged hadron and neutral pion production and test possible $`x_T`$-scaling. A summary is given in Section IV.

## II DATA ANALYSIS

### II.1 PHENIX Detector

The PHENIX experiment consists of four spectrometer arms $``$ two around mid-rapidity (the central arms) and two at forward rapidity (the muon arms) $``$ and a set of global detectors. The central arm and south Muon arm detectors were completed in 2001 and took data during $`Au+Au`$ operation of RHIC the same year (RUN-2). The layout of the PHENIX experiment during RUN-2 is shown in Figure 1. Each central arm covers the pseudo-rapidity range $`|\eta |<0.35`$ and 90 degrees in azimuthal angle $`\varphi `$. In each of the central arms, charged particles are tracked by a drift chamber (DC) positioned from 2.0 to 2.4m radially outward from the beam axis and 2 or 3 layers of pixel pad chambers (PC1, (PC2), PC3 located at 2.4m, (4.2m), 5m in radial direction, respectively). Particle identification is provided by ring imaging Cerenkov counters (RICH), a time of flight scintillator wall (TOF), and two types of electromagnetic calorimeters (lead scintillator (PBSC) and lead glass (PBGL)). The magnetic field for the central spectrometer is axially symmetric around the beam axis. Its component parallel to the beam axis has an approximately Gaussian dependence on the radial distance from the beam axis, dropping from 0.48 T at the center to 0.096 T (0.048 T) at the inner (outer) radius of the DC. A pair of Zero-Degree Calorimeters (ZDC) and a pair of Beam-Beam Counters (BBC) were used for global event characterization. Further details about the design and performance of PHENIX can be found in phenixnim .

### II.2 Event Selection

During RUN-2, PHENIX sampled an integrated luminosity of $`24\mu b^1`$ for $`Au+Au`$ collisions at $`\sqrt{s_{NN}}`$ = 200 GeV. Minimum bias events were selected by a coincidence between the ZDCs and the BBCs. This selection corresponds to $`92.2_{3.0}^{+2.5}\%`$ of the 6.9 barn $`Au+Au`$ inelastic cross section. The event centrality is determined by correlating the charge detected in the BBCs with the energy measured in the ZDCs. Two sets of centrality definitions are used in this analysis: a “Fine” set of centralities, which corresponds to 0-5%, …,15-20%,20-30%,…,80-92%, and a “Coarse” set of centralities, which corresponds to 0-10%,10-20%,20-30%,…,80-92%. A Glauber model Monte-Carlo simulation glauber ; foot0 ; ppg001 ; ppg009  that includes the responses of BBC and ZDC gives an estimate of the average number of binary collisions $`N_{\mathrm{𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙}}`$, participating nucleons $`N_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡}}`$ and nuclear overlap function $`T_{AuAu}`$ for each centrality class. The calculated values of $`N_{\mathrm{𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙}}`$, $`N_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡}}`$ and $`T_{AuAu}`$ for each centrality class are listed in Table 1.

In addition to the event selection, the BBCs also allow us to reconstruct the collision vertex in the beam direction ($`z`$) with a resolution of 0.5 $`cm`$. An offline $`z`$-vertex cut, $`|z_{vtx}|<`$30 $`cm`$, was applied to the minimum bias events. After this selection, a total of $`27\times 10^6`$ minimum bias $`Au+Au`$ events were analyzed to obtain the charged hadron spectra presented in this paper.

### II.3 Charged Particle Tracking and Momentum Measurement

Charged hadron tracks are measured using information from the DC, PC1, PC2 and PC3 detectors of the west central-arm and the BBC. The projections of the charged particle trajectories into a plane perpendicular to the beam axis are detected typically in 12 wire planes in the DC. The wire planes spaced at 0.6 $`cm`$ intervals along the radial direction from the beam axis. Each wire provides a projective measurement, with better than 150 $`\mu m`$ spacial resolution in the azimuthal ($`\varphi `$) direction. Eight additional wire planes in the DC provide stereoscopic projections, which together with the space point measured at the PC1 and the vertex position measured by the BBC determine the polar angle of the track. Trajectories are confirmed by requiring matching hits at both PC2 and PC3 to reduce the secondary background.

Tracks are then projected back to the collision vertex through the magnetic field to determine the momentum $`\stackrel{}{p}`$. The transverse momentum $`p_T`$ is related to the deflection angle $`\alpha `$ measured at the DC with respect to an infinite momentum trajectory. For tracks emitted perpendicular to the beam axis, this relation can be approximated by

$$\alpha \frac{K}{p_T},$$
(1)
where $`K`$ = 87 mrad GeV/$`c`$ is the effective field integral.

The momentum scale is verified by comparing the known proton mass to the value measured for charged particles identified as protons from their time-of-flight. The flight-time is measured in the TOF detector, which cover $`\pi /4`$ of the azimuthal acceptance in the east arm. The absolute value of the momentum scale is known to be correct to better than 0.7%.

The momentum resolution is directly related to the $`\alpha `$ resolution,

$`\delta p/p`$ $`=`$ $`\delta \alpha /\alpha `$
$`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{K}}\sqrt{({\displaystyle \frac{\sigma _{ms}}{\beta }})^2+(\sigma _\alpha p)^2},`$
where $`\delta \alpha `$ is the measured angular spread, which can be decomposed into the contribution from multiple scattering ($`\sigma _{ms}`$) and the contribution from the intrinsic pointing resolution ($`\sigma _\alpha `$) of the DC. At high $`p_T`$, $`\sigma _\alpha `$ is the dominating contribution, i.e. $`\delta _\alpha \sigma _\alpha `$. We measure $`\sigma _\alpha 0.84\pm 0.05`$ mrad/(GeV/$`c`$) using zero field data, where we select high-momentum tracks by requiring energetic hadronic showers in the electromagnetic calorimeters. The width of the proton mass as function of $`p_T`$ independently confirms the momentum resolution. In summary, the momentum resolution is determined to be $`\delta p/p0.7\%1.0\%p`$ (GeV/$`c`$). Further details on track reconstruction and momentum determination can be found in tracknim .

### II.4 Background Rejection and Subtraction

Approximately 95% of the tracks reconstructed by the DC originate from the event vertex. The remainder have to be investigated as potential background to the charged particle measurement. The main background sources include secondary particles from decays and $`e^+e^{}`$ pairs from the conversion of photons in materials between the vertex and the DC. Depending on how close the conversion or decay point is to the DC, or depending on the Q-value of the decay, these tracks may have a small deflection angle $`\alpha `$ at the DC. Thus, according to Eq. 1, they are incorrectly assigned a large momentum. In this analysis, the $`p_T`$ range over which charged particle production is accessible in PHENIX is limited by this background. We exploit the track match to PC2 and PC3 to reject as much of the background as possible, then employ a statistical method to measure and subtract the irreducible background.

For primary tracks, the distance in both the r-$`\varphi `$ and the $`z`$ direction between the track projection point and the measured PC hit position is approximately Gaussian with a mean of 0 and a width given by,

$$\sigma _{match}=\sqrt{\sigma _{det}^{match}{}_{}{}^{2}+\left(\frac{\sigma _{ms}^{match}}{p\beta }\right)^2},$$
(3)
where $`\sigma _{det}^{match}`$ is the finite detector resolution (which includes DC pointing (or $`\alpha `$) resolution and the PC2, PC3 spacial resolution), and $`\sigma _{ms}^{match}`$ is the multiple scattering contribution.

Despite being incorrectly reconstructed with large $`p_T`$, the majority of the background particles have low momenta. While travelling from the DC to the PC2 and PC3, they multiple scatter and receive an additional deflection from the fringe field. This causes a correlated deflection between the measured positions at PC2, PC3, and the projections calculated from tracks measured by the DC and PC1. The displacements in r-$`\varphi `$ and $`z`$ directions are represented by $`D_\varphi `$ and $`D_z`$. Since the residual bend depends on the $`z`$ component of the fringe field, which decreases rapidly at large $`|\eta |`$, a fiducial cut of $`|\eta |<`$0.18 was applied to ensure that the residual bend due to the fringe field is almost independent of $`z`$. We focus on the displacement in r-$`\varphi `$, $`D_\varphi `$, which are large for low momentum tracks due to the residual bend. The $`D_\varphi `$’s at PC2 and PC3 are correlated with each other, as shown in Figure 2. Most of the tracks lie in a narrow window around the diagonal line. The width of this window is given by the PC2 and PC3 detector resolutions, which are of the order of a few millimeters. Multiple scattering and residual bend broaden the matching distribution along the diagonal line. To optimize background rejection, we define two orthogonal projections,

$`D_\varphi ^+`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}}(D_\varphi ^{pc2}+D_\varphi ^{pc3})`$ (4)
$`D_\varphi ^{}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}}(D_\varphi ^{pc2}D_\varphi ^{pc3})`$
$`D_\varphi ^+`$ is the variable along the correlated direction, $`D_\varphi ^{}`$ is the direction normal to $`D_\varphi ^+`$. A $`\pm `$2$`\sigma `$ cut on these variables is applied in the data analysis. In the remaining discussion, unless stated otherwise, only tracks satisfying these cuts are included.

After matching cuts, the background level is less than 6% for $`p_T<4`$ GeV/$`c`$, but increases rapidly at higher $`p_T`$. For $`4<p_T<10`$ GeV/$`c`$, the most significant remaining background sources are $`e^+e^{}`$ from conversion of photons close to the DC and particles from weak decays of long lived particles, mainly of $`K^\pm `$ and $`K_L^0`$. These backgrounds are estimated and subtracted separately from the $`D_\varphi ^+`$ distribution for all tracks, as will be discussed in the rest of this section.

To separate the two background sources, we take advantage of the RICH to tag electrons. Charged particles with velocities above the Cherenkov threshold $`\gamma _{th}=35`$ ($`CO_2`$ radiator) will emit Cherenkov photons, which are detected by photon multiplier tubes (PMT) in the RICH richnim . We characterize the Cherenkov photon yield for a charged particle by $`N_{PMT}`$, the number of PMTs with signals above threshold associated to the track. For reconstructed electrons ($`p_T>150MeV/c`$), the average number of associated PMTs is $`N_{PMT}4.5`$. The probability to find at least one PMT above threshold is more than $`99\%`$. For pions, the Cherenkov threshold is 4.8 GeV/$`c`$, and the number of associated PMTs reaches its asymptotic value only well above 10 GeV/$`c`$; $`N_{PMT}`$ increases from 1.4 at 6 GeV/$`c`$ to 2.8 at 8 GeV/$`c`$ and 3.6 at 10 GeV/$`c`$.

Tracks ($`N_R`$) with at least one associated RICH PMT contain both conversion electrons and real pions. Their matching distributions in $`D_\varphi ^+`$ are presented in Figure 3 for a sample range of $`6<p_T<7`$ GeV/$`c`$. Also shown is the matching distribution for conversion electrons from Monte-Carlo simulation. The contributions from pions and electrons are clearly distinguishable. For pions with $`p_T<10`$ GeV/$`c`$, $`N_{PMT}`$ has not reached its asymptotic value. A requirement of $`N_{PMT}5`$ rejects most of the pions while preserving a well-defined fraction ($`R_e`$) of the electrons. To measure $`R_e`$ from the data, we select tracks with an apparent $`p_T>10`$ GeV/$`c`$111In this $`p_T`$ range, the background yield decreases slowly with $`p_T`$, while the true $`\pi `$ yield decreases rapidly as $`p_T`$ increases. By comparing the measured $`\pi ^0`$ spectrum from PHENIX ppg014  with the charged hadron spectrum before background subtraction at $`p_T>`$ 10 GeV/$`c`$, the integrated signal yield is estimated to be less than 3% and thus may be neglected. The fraction of tracks with $`N_{PMT}5`$ is measured to be $`R_e=0.458\pm 0.05`$. Both Monte-Carlo and data show a small variation of $`R_e`$ with $`p_T`$ and centrality. This variation is included in the error on $`R_e`$. The total electron background is calculated using tracks with $`N_{PMT}5`$ ($`N_e`$) as, $`N_e/R_e`$. The number of real pions in the RICH-associated sample for each $`p_T`$ bin is then calculated as,

$$S_R=N_R\frac{N_e}{R_e}.$$
(5)
With this method, a small fraction of genuine pions, which satisfy $`N_{PMT}5`$, is subtracted. This fraction is negligible below 7 GeV/$`c`$, but increases rapidly towards higher $`p_T`$. This loss is corrected using the PHENIX Monte-Carlo simulation. In this case, a 100% error on the correction is assigned.

The sample of tracks ($`N_{NR}`$) with no associated RICH PMT contains a mixture of $`\pi ,K,p`$, contaminated by the decay background. Their matching distributions in $`D_\varphi ^+`$ are shown in Figure 4 for $`6<p_T<7`$ GeV/$`c`$, together with the matching distribution for decay particles from MC simulation. A Monte-Carlo study shows that the apparent momentum of these tracks is nearly uncorrelated with true momentum and therefore the distribution of this background in $`D_\varphi ^+`$ is nearly independent of the apparent momentum. We select a nearly pure background sample using tracks with reconstructed $`p_T>10`$ GeV/$`c`$ and measure the ratio of the number of tracks passing a $`|D_\varphi ^+|<2\sigma `$ cut to tracks in the interval $`3\sigma <|D_\varphi ^+|<9\sigma `$:

$`R_{decay}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{N_{NR}(p_T>10GeV/c,|D_\varphi ^+|<2\sigma )}{N_{NR}(p_T>10GeV/c,3\sigma <|D_\varphi ^+|<9\sigma )}}`$
$`=`$ $`0.424\pm 0.05`$
The error quoted takes into account the small variation of $`R_{decay}`$ with $`p_T`$ and centrality. Since the average yield of real hadrons in this interval is small, we estimate the decay contribution as a function of $`p_T`$ to be $`N_{NR}(3\sigma <|D_\varphi ^+|<9\sigma )\times R_{decay}`$. Finally, the signal is calculated as,

$`S_{NR}`$ $`=`$ $`N_{NR}(|D_\varphi ^+|<2\sigma )`$
$`N_{NR}(3\sigma <|D_\varphi ^+|<9\sigma )\times R_{decay}`$
Figure 5 gives the total signal, obtained as $`S_R+S_{NR}`$, with the decay and conversion background subtracted. On the right hand side, the signal-to-background ratio is shown. The background increases with increasing $`p_T`$. At 4 GeV/$`c`$ the signal-to-background ratio is about 10, and decreases to 1 at 7.5 GeV/$`c`$ and to $``$0.3 at 10 GeV/$`c`$.

Weak decays of short lived particles, mainly $`K_s^0`$, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ within the magnetic field provide an additional source of background. A significant fraction of this background is subtracted using the $`R_{decay}`$ method described above. However, secondary particles from decays close to the event vertex are not subtracted since they are nearly indistinguishable from primary particles. This “feed-down” contaminates the track sample without the associated RICH PMTs, $`S_{NR}`$ (about 40% of all charged particles at high $`p_T`$), and needs to be subtracted from the data.

To estimate the feed-down contribution we generate $`Au+Au`$ events with HIJING hijing , reconstruct them through the PHENIX Monte-Carlo simulation, and count the secondaries which survive all analysis cuts. The secondaries from $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ decays are counted relative to the reconstructed $`(p+\overline{p})`$, and correspondingly, those from $`K_s^0`$ relative to $`(K^++K^{})/2`$. We tune the $`(\mathrm{\Lambda }+\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }})/(p+\overline{p})`$, $`K_s^0/(0.5(K^++K^{}))`$ ratios by weighting the particle distributions generated according to HIJING such that they reproduce the nearly $`p_T`$-independent experimentally observed ratios from $`Au+Au`$ collisions at $`\sqrt{s_{NN}}`$ = 130 GeV ppg012 ; starkaon .

The final feed-down contribution depends on the choice of the $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`K_s^0`$ $`p_T`$ spectra and of their yields in the high $`p_T`$ range where they are not measured. Both yields and spectral shapes are varied within limits imposed by the spectrum for tracks that do not fire the RICH. The average feed-down contribution depends on $`p_T`$ and varies between 6 to 13% relative to the total charged hadron yield; it is subtracted from the charged spectra. The systematic uncertainties are estimated from the spread of the feed-down contributions obtained with different assumptions. The uncertainties are approximately 60% of the subtraction, and depend on $`p_T`$ and centrality.

Table 2 summarizes the systematic errors on the background subtraction 222We should emphasize that, in the remaining discussion unless stated otherwise, all systematic errors listed in Tables have been adjusted to $`1\sigma `$ errors.. All errors are correlated with $`p_T`$ and are presented as relative errors to the charged hadron yield. The uncertainty of the pion oversubtraction correction ($`\delta _{\pi loss}`$) was re-scaled by the fraction of signal tracks with RICH association, i.e. $`S_R/(S_R+S_{NR})`$. Errors on the scaling factors $`R_e`$ and $`R_{decay}`$ were individually folded with the signal-to-background ratios in the two samples. The resulting uncertainties on the charged yields were then added in quadrature ($`\delta _{R_eR_{decay}}`$). The uncertainty of the $`K_s^0`$, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, and $`\overline{\mathrm{\Lambda }}`$ feed-down subtraction is denoted by $`\delta _{feeddown}`$.

### II.5 Corrections and systematic uncertainties

After background subtraction, we have determined a single, $`p_T`$-dependent correction function to correct the hadron spectra for acceptance, decay in flight, reconstruction efficiency and momentum resolution. This function is determined using a GEANT geant  Monte-Carlo simulation phenixoff  of the PHENIX detector in which simulated single tracks are reconstructed using the same analysis chain applied to the real data. Because of decays and multiple scattering, the correction function depends on the particle species. This is reflected in Figure 6, where the correction functions averaged between $`\pi ^+`$ and $`\pi ^{}`$, $`K^+`$ and $`K^{}`$, $`p^+`$ and $`p^{}`$ are shown separately. At $`p_T<3`$ GeV/$`c`$, the kaon correction function is significantly larger than those for pions and protons; For $`p_T>3`$ GeV/$`c`$, this difference is less than 15%. To take into account this species dependence, we determine the correction function separately for pions, kaons, protons, and their anti-particles. The final correction function is then obtained by combining the correction functions for the different particle species weighted by the measured $`p_T`$-dependent particle composition from ppg026 . Above 2 GeV/$`c`$, where kaon data are not available, we assume the $`K/\pi `$ ratio is constant within $`\pm 10\%`$ from the value observed at 2 GeV/$`c`$. This assumption leads to a 2.5% systematic error in the correction function. The resulting correction function is plotted in the upper left panel of Figure 7. The sharp rise below 2 GeV/$`c`$ is due to loss in acceptance and decays in flight. Above 2 GeV/$`c`$, the correction decreases only slowly with $`p_T`$. For $`p_T>4`$ GeV/$`c`$, the correction varies by less than $`\pm `$5%.

The data are also corrected for efficiency losses due to detector occupancy. Though this is negligible for peripheral collisions, these losses are important in central collisions, and are evaluated by embedding simulated tracks into real events. The average track reconstruction efficiency in the active detector area is larger than 98% for peripheral collisions, but decreases to $`70\pm 3.5\%`$ for central collisions. As shown in the lower part of Figure 7, the efficiency loss is independent of $`p_T`$ within a $`\pm `$3% systematic uncertainty from 1.5 to 10 GeV/$`c`$. Based on this observation, the full correction can be factorized into centrality-dependent (i.e. detector occupancy dependent) correction function, $`c(N_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡}})`$, and $`p_T`$-dependent correction function, $`c(p_T)`$. The centrality-dependent correction function is shown on the upper right panel of Figure 7. Most of the efficiency loss is due to hit overlaps, which can shift the hit positions in the DC or PC’s outside of the matching windows. The $`\pm `$2$`\sigma `$ matching windows are larger at low $`p_T`$ to account for multiple scattering (see Eq. 3), thus the tracks are less vulnerable to the effect of hit merging. This effect has been taken into account by applying a slightly smaller, $`p_T`$-dependent, occupancy correction at $`p_T<1.5`$ GeV/$`c`$.

Figure 7 also shows systematic errors on the correction functions. These errors include not only the errors on the correction itself, but also the uncertainty due to the background subtraction procedure.

Finally, the inclusive charged hadron yield are obtained by multiplying the $`p_T`$-dependent correction function, $`c(p_T)`$, and centrality-dependent correction function, $`c(N_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡}})`$, with the background subtracted spectra and dividing by the number of events for every centrality class as:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{N_{evts}}}{\displaystyle \frac{dN}{2\pi p_Tdp_Td\eta }}`$ $`=`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{N_{evts}}}\times c(p_T)\times c(N_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡}})`$
$`\times \left({\displaystyle \frac{dN}{p_Tdp_Td\eta }}\right)^{bgrsubtracted}`$
The systematic errors on the spectra, which are common to all centrality classes, are listed in Table 3. Sources of systematic uncertainties are: the matching cuts ($`\delta _{match}`$), normalization ($`\delta _{norm}`$), particle composition ($`\delta _{mix}`$), momentum resolution ($`\delta _{reso}`$), momentum scale ($`\delta _{scale}`$), and background subtraction ($`\delta _{bgr}`$) from Table 2. The normalization error is independent of $`p_T`$. All other errors vary with $`p_T`$ but are highly correlated bin-to-bin, which means that points in neighboring $`p_T`$ bins can move in the same direction by similar factors.

The centrality-dependent systematic errors are quantified in terms of the central-to-peripheral ratio, $`R_{cp}`$, as given in Table 4. Besides the uncertainty on the occupancy correction ($`\delta _{occupancy}`$) illustrated in Figure 7, the background subtraction procedure has a centrality-dependent uncertainty. As discussed in Section II.4, the errors on $`R_e`$ and $`R_{decay}`$ reflect the $`p_T`$ and centrality dependencies. The centrality-dependent part contributes about half of the error on both $`R_e`$ and $`R_{decay}`$, and hence does not cancel in $`R_{cp}`$. Since the errors on $`R_e`$ and $`R_{decay}`$ are independent, the uncertainty on $`R_{cp}`$ is approximately equal to $`\delta _{R_eR_{decay}}`$ from Table 2. Finally, $`\delta _{feeddown}`$ is the centrality-dependent error from feed-down subtraction.

## III RESULTS

### III.1 Inclusive charged hadron $`p_T`$ spectra

Figure 8 shows the inclusive charged hadron $`p_T`$ spectra for various centrality classes. All spectra exhibit power-law tails at high $`p_T`$. But for peripheral collisions, the power-law shape is more concave than for central collisions. More details of the centrality dependence of the spectral shape can be seen from Figure 9, which shows for each centrality class the ratio of the spectra to the minimum-bias spectrum. In these ratios, most systematic errors cancel or affect the overall scale only. The characteristic centrality dependence of the shape already observed in $`\sqrt{s_{NN}}`$ = 130 GeV $`Au+Au`$ collisions star ; ppg013  is more apparent at $`\sqrt{s_{NN}}`$ = 200 GeV. In peripheral collisions, the ratio decreases up to $`p_T2`$ GeV/$`c`$ and then rises up to about 4 GeV/$`c`$. The trends are reversed in the most central collisions. In the range above 4–5 GeV/$`c`$, all ratios appear to be constant as function of $`p_T`$, which would imply that they have a similar centrality independent shape.

Based on the different trends observed in Figure 9, we can distinguish three $`p_T`$ regions: 0.5–2, 2–4.5 and $`>4.5`$ GeV/$`c`$. The different centrality dependence of the spectral shape in these regions can be quantified by a truncated average $`p_T`$:

$$p_T^{trunc}\frac{_{p_T^{min}}^{8GeV/c}p_T𝑑N/𝑑p_T}{_{p_T^{min}}^{8GeV/c}𝑑N/𝑑p_T}p_T^{min},$$
(9)
which is insensitive to the normalization of the spectra. The upper bound of 8 GeV/$`c`$ in the integral is given by the limited $`p_T`$ reach for peripheral centrality classes as shown in Figure 8. In Figure 10, the values of $`p_T^{trunc}`$ for the three $`p_T^{min}`$ values are plotted as function of centrality, represented by the average number of participating nucleons ($`N_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡}}`$) for each centrality class.

For $`p_T^{min}=0.5`$ GeV/$`c`$, where particle production is expected to be governed by soft physics, $`p_T^{trunc}`$ increases with $`N_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡}}`$. This trend is also seen for the average $`p_T`$ of identified charged hadrons, and reflects the increased radial flow of soft particles in more central collisions ppg026 . For $`p_T^{min}=2`$ GeV/$`c`$, the trend is significantly different. For peripheral collisions, $`p_T^{trunc}`$ is substantially larger than the value obtained with $`p_T^{min}`$ = 0.5 GeV/$`c`$ due to the presence of the power-law tail. With increasing $`N_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡}}`$, $`p_T^{trunc}`$ for $`p_T^{min}`$ = 2 GeV/$`c`$ decreases and the values obtained with $`p_T^{min}=0.5`$ and 2 GeV/$`c`$ approach each other, which indicates an almost exponential spectrum in central collisions between 0.5 and 2 GeV/$`c`$. For the highest $`p_T`$ range ($`p_T^{min}=4.5`$ GeV/$`c`$), $`p_T^{trunc}`$ is approximately constant. This implies that the shape of the spectrum is nearly independent of centrality, as would be expected if this region is dominated by hard scattering.

However, the yields at high $`p_T`$ do not scale with the number of nucleon-nucleon collisions; they are suppressed comparing to the binary collision scaling expected for hard scattering processes. This can be clearly seen from Figure 11, which shows $`R_{cp}`$, the ratio of yields for central and peripheral collisions normalized to the average number of nucleon-nucleon collisions in each event sample. The ratio is below unity for all $`p_T`$. The three $`p_T`$ regions show different trends as outlined in the discussion of Figure 10: (i) In the “soft” region with $`p_T<2`$ GeV/$`c`$, the ratio increases as function of $`p_T`$. (ii) In the “hard” region with $`p_T>4.5`$ GeV/$`c`$, the suppression appears to be constant at $`0.3`$, which again indicates that the spectra have a similar shape, but with the yield in central collisions being suppressed by a constant factor from 4.5 to 10 GeV/$`c`$. (iii) In the transition region from 2 to $``$4.5 GeV/$`c`$, the ratio decreases as function of $`p_T`$.

### III.2 Suppression of high $`p_T`$ hadrons in $`Au+Au`$ at $`\sqrt{s_{NN}}`$ = 200 GeV

At finite $`Q^2`$, nuclear modifications of the parton distribution EKS98 ; dima  and initial cronin  and final state Gyu90  interactions of the scattering partons can modify the high-$`p_T`$ hadron production rates in hard scattering processes. Medium modifications of hadron spectra are often quantified by the “nuclear modification factor” $`R_{AA}`$, which we calculate for each centrality class as the ratio of the yield per nucleon-nucleon collision in $`Au+Au`$ to the yield in nucleon-nucleon collisions:

$$R_{AA}(p_T,\eta )=\left(\frac{1}{N_{evt}}\frac{d^2N^{A+A}}{dp_Td\eta }\right)/\left(\frac{N_{coll}}{\sigma _{inel}^{N+N}}\frac{d^2\sigma ^{N+N}}{dp_Td\eta }\right)$$
(10)
$`N_{\mathrm{𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙}}/\sigma _{inel}^{N+N}`$ is the average Glauber nuclear overlap function, $`T_{AuAu}`$, for each centrality class. In order to calculate $`R_{AA}`$, we need a reference spectrum for nucleon-nucleon collisions. Due to the lack of charged hadron data with sufficient reach in $`p_T`$ from our own experiment, we construct the $`N+N`$ reference for charged hadrons from the $`\pi ^0`$ spectra in $`p+p`$ collisions at $`\sqrt{s}=200`$ GeV/$`c`$ measured by PHENIX ppg024 , and the charged hadron to pion ratio observed in other experiments, as described below.

The PHENIX $`\pi ^0`$ spectra from $`p+p`$ collisions are measured out to 14 GeV/$`c`$. These data can be parameterized by a power-law function,

$$\frac{1}{2\pi p_T}\frac{d^2\sigma _{N+N}^{\pi ^0}}{dp_Td\eta }=A\left(\frac{p_0}{p_0+p_T}\right)^n,$$
(11)
with A = 386 mb/(GeV/$`c`$)2, $`p_0`$ = 1.219 GeV/$`c`$, and n = 9.99 ppg024 .

In $`p+p`$ experiments at the ISR, the $`h/\pi `$ ratio was measured to be $`1.6\pm 0.16`$, independent of $`p_T`$ from 1.5 to 5 GeV/$`c`$, and independent of $`\sqrt{s}`$ from 23 to 63 GeV ISR . Below 1.5 GeV/$`c`$, $`h/\pi `$ decreases towards lower $`p_T`$. The ISR data are consistent with data on $`\pi ,K,P`$ production from FNAL E735 experiment E735  at $`\sqrt{s}`$ = 1.8 TeV. The $`h/\pi `$ ratio computed from these data increases with $`p_T`$ and reaches a value of 1.6 at the end of the measured $`p_T`$ range, $``$1.5 GeV/$`c`$. At high momentum, a $`h/\pi `$ ratio of $`1.6`$ is also observed for quark and gluon jet fragmentation in $`e^+e^{}`$ collisions at LEP by the DELPHI Collaboration delphi . Finally, charged hadron data measured by PHENIX in $`p+p`$ collisions and data measured by UA1 UA1  in $`\overline{p}+p`$ collisions, both at $`\sqrt{s}`$ = 200 GeV/$`c`$, give consistent $`h/\pi `$ ratios when compared to the PHENIX $`p+p`$ $`\pi ^0`$ data.

Based on these findings, we assume that $`h/\pi `$ is constant above 1.5 GeV/$`c`$ in $`p+p`$ collisions at RHIC and that we can scale up the $`\pi ^0`$ cross-section (Eq. 11) by this factor to obtain a reference for charged hadron production. To be consistent with the data described above, we correct this reference below 1.5 GeV/$`c`$ using an empirical function,

$$r(p_T)=\{\begin{array}{cc}R_{h/\pi }a\left(p_{max}p_T\right)^2\hfill & \text{ for }p_Tp_{max}\hfill \\ R_{h/\pi }\hfill & \text{ for }p_T>p_{max}\hfill \end{array},$$
(12)
where $`R_{h/\pi }`$ = 1.6, $`p_{max}`$ = 1.6 GeV/$`c`$ and a = 0.28 (GeV/$`c`$)-2. The charged hadron reference used in this analysis is then given by the product of the power-law function from Eq. 11 and the empirical correction from Eq. 12 as:

$$\frac{1}{2\pi p_T}\frac{d^2\sigma _{N+N}^{h^++h^{}}}{dp_Td\eta }=A\left(\frac{p_0}{p_0+p_T}\right)^n\times r(p_T).$$
(13)
The systematic errors on the charged hadron $`N+N`$ reference are summarized in Table 5. The main sources of uncertainties include: (i) the systematic errors on the absolute normalization of the PHENIX $`\pi ^0`$ data ($`\delta _{norm}^{\pi ^0}`$), which are independent of $`p_T`$, (ii) uncertainties due to the power-law fit to the $`\pi ^0`$ data ($`\delta _{fit}^{\pi ^0}`$), and (iii) uncertainties on $`R_{h/\pi }`$ ($`\delta _{h/\pi }`$), which are estimated from the spread of $`R_{h/\pi }`$ obtained from different data sets used to constrain $`h/\pi ^0`$.

Figure 12 shows the nuclear modification factor $`R_{AA}(p_T)`$ for charged hadrons from minimum bias and nine centrality classes. The systematic errors on $`R_{AA}`$ are described in the figure captions. At low $`p_T`$, the charged hadron $`R_{AA}`$ increase monotonically up to 2 GeV/$`c`$ for all centrality classes. At $`p_T>`$ 2 GeV/$`c`$, $`R_{AA}`$ remains constant and close to unity for the most peripheral centrality class. However, in central collisions, it decreases at higher $`p_T`$, down to an approximately constant value of 0.2–0.3 for $`p_T>`$ 4–5 GeV/$`c`$. This is consistent with Figure 11, where the central to peripheral ratio also saturates above 4–5 GeV/$`c`$. This approximately $`p_T`$ independent suppression pattern has been interpreted as a result of the detailed interplay between the Cronin effect, nuclear shadowing, and partonic energy loss ivan .

Also shown in Figure 12 are $`R_{AA}`$ for neutral pions from ref. ppg014 . The neutral pion $`R_{AA}`$ values also seem to reach maximum around 2 GeV/$`c`$, but the changes are smaller than those for charged hadrons. Except for the most peripheral bin, the neutral pion $`R_{AA}`$ are always below the charged $`R_{AA}`$ in the range of 2 $`<p_T<`$ 4.5 GeV/$`c`$. However, at $`p_T>4.5`$ GeV/$`c`$, $`R_{AA}`$ for both neutral pions and hadrons saturate at roughly the same level, indicating a similar suppression for neutral pions and charged hadrons at high $`p_T`$.

The fact that the neutral pion $`R_{AA}`$ values are smaller than inclusive charged hadron $`R_{AA}`$ at intermediate $`p_T`$ ($`2<p_T<4.5`$ GeV/$`c`$) has already been observed at $`\sqrt{s_{NN}}=130`$ GeV ppg003 . This difference can be explained by the large $`p/\pi `$ ratio observed in the same $`p_T`$ range in central $`Au+Au`$ collisions ppg006 ; ppg015 . This large relative proton and anti-proton yield indicates a deviation from the standard picture of hadron production at $`p_T>2`$ GeV/$`c`$, which assumes that the hadrons are created by the fragmentation of energetic partons. Such a deviation has led to models of quark coalescence coalence  or baryon junctions junction  as the possible mechanisms to enhance the proton production rate at medium $`p_T`$. Both models predict that baryon enhancement is limited to $`p_T<5`$ GeV/$`c`$, beyond which jet fragmentation should eventually become the dominant production mechanism for all particle species. In that case, one would expect a similar suppression factor for charged hadron and $`\pi ^0`$, in agreement with the data at $`p_T>4.5`$ GeV/$`c`$. Recently, the difference of $`R_{AA}`$ between charged hadrons and pions was also argued as the consequence of centrality and particle species dependent $`k_T`$ broadening effect xiaofei .

If hard-scattering dominates charged hadron production at $`p_T>4.5`$ GeV/$`c`$, the particle composition should be determined by the jet fragmentation function, similar to nucleon-nucleon collisions. Figure 13 shows $`h/\pi ^0`$ for all centrality classes. The systematic errors are explained in the figure captions. In the most peripheral collisions, the $`h/\pi ^0`$ ratio is consistent with the $`p+p`$ values down to $`p_T2`$ GeV/$`c`$. In central collisions, the $`h/\pi ^0`$ ratio is enhanced by as much as 50% above the $`p+p`$ value in the region $`1<p_T<4.5`$ GeV/$`c`$. This enhancement gradually decreases towards more peripheral collisions and reflects the difference of $`R_{AA}`$ between the charged hadrons and $`\pi ^0`$s, which is due to large baryon contribution. The enhancement also strongly depends on $`p_T`$: It reaches a maximum between 2.5 and 3.5 GeV/$`c`$, then decreases. At $`p_T>4.5`$ GeV/$`c`$, the $`h/\pi ^0`$ ratios for all centralities reach an approximately constant value of 1.6, which is consistent with the $`h/\pi `$ value observed in $`p+p`$ ISR  collisions and in jet fragmentation in $`e^+e^{}`$ delphi  collisions. The similarity of the spectral shape and of the particle composition between $`Au+Au`$ and $`p+p`$ collisions suggest that fragmentation of hard-scattered partons is the dominant mechanism of particle production in $`Au+Au`$ collisions above $`p_T`$ of 4–5 GeV/$`c`$, regardless of the fact that the yields do not scale with $`N_{\mathrm{𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙}}`$.

Since $`R_{AA}`$ values for charged hadrons and $`\pi ^0`$s are approximately constant at $`p_T>4.5`$ GeV/$`c`$, we can quantify the centrality dependence of the $`R_{AA}`$ value by calculating it from yields integrated above 4.5 GeV/$`c`$. The upper panel of Figure 14 shows $`R_{AA}`$ for $`p_T>4.5`$ GeV/$`c`$ as function of $`N_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡}}`$. The $`R_{AA}`$ values for charged hadrons and $`\pi ^0`$ agree for all centrality classes within errors. In peripheral collisions with $`N_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡}}<50`$, $`R_{AA}`$ is consistent with binary collision scaling. With increasing $`N_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡}}`$, $`R_{AA}`$ decreases monotonically, reaching a value of $`0.23\pm 0.03`$ (0-5% most central) for charged hadrons and $`0.24\pm 0.02`$ (0-10% most central) for $`\pi ^0`$s. There is an additional 14% error common to charged hadrons and $`\pi ^0`$s, which originates from the uncertainty on the $`N+N`$ reference and $`N_{coll}`$.

To address suggestions that the yield of high $`p_T`$ hadrons in $`Au+Au`$ collisions may be proportional to $`N_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡}}`$ instead of $`N_{\mathrm{𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙}}`$ dima ; mueller , we have investigated a different ratio,

$$R_{AA}^{N_{part}}=2N_{\mathrm{𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙}}/N_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡}}\times R_{AA}.$$
(14)
$`R_{AA}^{N_{part}}`$ for $`p_T>4.5`$ GeV/$`c`$ is shown in the lower panel of Figure 14, together with solid (or dashed) bands representing the allowed range if the data follow binary collision (or participant) scaling. As discussed above, for peripheral collisions, $`R_{AA}^{N_{part}}`$ follows more closely the binary collision scaling. Above 50 participants, $`R_{AA}^{N_{part}}`$ varies by only $`\pm `$20%. However, it peaks at $`N_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡}}`$ = 100 and decreases monotonically towards more central collisions 333In the $`p_T`$ range from 3–4 GeV/$`c`$, $`R_{AA}^{N_{part}}`$ for charged hadrons is approximately constant, which is consistent with earlier measurements at $`\sqrt{s_{NN}}`$ = 130 GeV ppg013  and $`\sqrt{s_{NN}}`$ = 200 GeV phobosch . To interpret this constancy as participant scaling is misleading, since pion and proton yields change differently with centrality in this $`p_T`$ region, and $`R_{AA}^{N_{part}}`$ accidentally appears constant for inclusive charged hadron. The data above 4.5 GeV/$`c`$ shown in Figure 14 are free of this effect. .

The decrease of $`R_{AA}^{N_{part}}`$ could be a natural consequence of energy loss of hard scattered partons in the medium mueller . If the energy loss is large, hard scattered partons may only escape near the surface of the reaction volume. In a cylindrical collision geometry, for which the number of collisions from the surface is proportional to $`N_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡}}`$, binary collision scaling is reduced to an approximate participant scaling. Detailed calculations show that in this case, $`R_{AA}^{N_{part}}`$ slightly decreases with $`N_{\mathrm{𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡}}`$ depending in details on how the energy loss is modelled mueller . This interpretation is also consistent with our previous conclusion that, above 4.5 GeV/$`c`$, hadron production is dominated by hard-scattering although the yield does not scale with the number of binary collisions. Gluon saturation scenarios dima  also suggest approximate participant scaling, with a 30% increase in $`R_{AA}`$ over the $`p_T`$ range 4.5–9 GeV/$`c`$ in central collisions. This increase can not be excluded by the data.

### III.3 Energy dependence and $`x_T`$ scaling

The inclusive charged hadron and $`\pi ^0`$ $`p_T`$ spectra and $`h/\pi ^0`$ ratios suggest that fragmentation of hard scattered partons is the dominant production mechanism of high $`p_T`$ hadrons not only in $`p+p`$ but also in $`Au+Au`$ collisions. For $`p+p`$ collisions this fact was demonstrated on general principles well before the advent of QCD by the method of “$`x_T`$-scaling”. This method does not depend on whether the initial projectiles are protons or $`Au`$ ions, so it should be directly applicable to $`Au+Au`$ collisions. Since our data show a suppression of high-$`p_T`$ particles in central $`Au+Au`$ collisions with respect to point-like scaling from $`p+p`$ and peripheral $`Au+Au`$ collisions, it is important to investigate whether the production dynamics of high-$`p_T`$ particles in central (and peripheral) $`Au+Au`$ collisions are the same or different from those in $`p+p`$ collisions. We first review the $`x_T`$-scaling method in $`p+p`$ collisions and then apply it to the present $`Au+Au`$ data.

The idea of hard-scattering in $`N+N`$ collisions dates from the first indication of point-like structure inside the proton, in 1968, found in deep inelastic electron-proton scattering DIS , i.e. scattering with large values of 4-momentum transfer squared, $`Q^2`$, and energy loss, $`\nu `$. The discovery that the Deep Inelastic Scattering (DIS) structure function

$$F_2(Q^2,\nu )=F_2\left(\frac{Q^2}{\nu }\right)$$
(15)
“scales”, or in other words, depends on the ratio

$$x=\frac{Q^2}{2M\nu }$$
(16)
independent of $`Q^2`$ as suggested by Bjorken Bj , led to the concept of a proton being composed of point-like “partons”. Since the partons of DIS are charged, and hence must scatter electromagnetically from each other in $`p+p`$ collisions, a general formula for the cross section of the single-particle inclusive reaction

$$p+pC+X$$
(17)
was derived BBK  using the principle of factorization of the reaction into parton distribution functions for the protons, fragmentation functions to particle $`C`$ for the scattered partons and a short-distance parton-parton hard scattering cross section.

The invariant cross section for the single-particle inclusive reaction (Eq. 17), where particle $`C`$ has transverse momentum $`p_T`$ near mid-rapidity, was given by the general scaling form CIM :

$$E\frac{d^3\sigma }{dp^3}=\frac{1}{p_T^n}F\left(\frac{2p_T}{\sqrt{s}}\right)\text{where}x_T=2p_T/\sqrt{s}.$$
(18)
The cross section has 2 factors: a function $`F`$ which depends only on the ratio of momenta, and a dimensioned factor, $`p_T^n`$, where $`n`$ depends on the quantum exchanged in the hard-scattering. For QED or Vector Gluon exchange BBK , $`n=4`$. For the case of quark-meson scattering by the exchange of a quark CIM , $`n`$=8. The discovery of high $`p_T`$ pions in $`p+p`$ scattering at the CERN-ISR, in 1972 CCR ; SS ; BS , at a rate much larger than predicted by electromagnetic scattering, but with the scaling form of Eq. 18, proved that the partons of DIS strongly interact with each other.

Inclusion of QCD CGKS  into the scaling form led to the $`x_T`$-scaling law (Eq. 18),

$$E\frac{d^3\sigma }{dp^3}=\frac{1}{\sqrt{s}^{n(x_T,\sqrt{s})}}G(x_T),$$
(19)
where the “$`x_T`$-scaling power” $`n(x_T,\sqrt{s})`$ should equal 4 in lowest order (LO) calculations, analogous to the $`1/q^4`$ form of Rutherford Scattering in QED. The structure and fragmentation functions, which scale as the ratios of momenta are all in the $`G(x_T)`$ term. Due to higher order effects such as the running of the coupling constant, $`\alpha _s(Q^2)`$, the evolution of the structure and fragmentation functions, and the initial state $`k_T`$, measured values of $`n(x_T,\sqrt{s})`$ in $`p+p`$ collisions are in the range from 5 to 8.

The compilation of single particle inclusive transverse momentum spectra at mid-rapidity from $`p+p`$ and $`p+\overline{p}`$ collisions at c.m. energy $`\sqrt{s}`$ from 23 to 1800 GeV ISR ; CDF ; UA1 ; STAR  is shown in Figure 15a for $`(h^++h^{})/2`$, and in Figure 16a for $`\pi ^0`$ CCOR ; CCRS ; UA2 ; E706 ; ppg024 . The spectra exhibit a characteristic shape: an exponential part at low $`p_T1`$ GeV/$`c`$ which depends very little on $`\sqrt{s}`$ (soft physics), and a power-law tail for $`p_T2`$ GeV/$`c`$ which depends very strongly on $`\sqrt{s}`$ (hard physics). The high $`p_T`$ part of the spectra shows a characteristic scaling behavior indicative of fragmentation of jets produced by hard-scattering of the quark and gluon constituents of the proton as described by QCD Dilella ; Darriulat ; owens2 .

The $`x_T`$-scaling of the single particle inclusive data is nicely illustrated by a plot of

$$\sqrt{s}^{n(x_T,\sqrt{s})}\times E\frac{d^3\sigma }{dp^3}=G(x_T),$$
(20)
as a function of $`x_T`$, with $`n(x_T,\sqrt{s})=6.3`$. The $`(h^++h^{})/2`$ data (Figure 15b) show an asymptotic power law with increasing $`x_T`$. Data at a given $`\sqrt{s}`$ fall below the asymptote at successively lower values of $`x_T`$ with increasing $`\sqrt{s}`$, corresponding to the transition region from hard to soft physics in the $`p_T`$ range of 1–2 GeV/$`c`$. The $`\pi ^0`$ data (Figure 16b) show a similar $`x_T`$-scaling but without the deviation at low $`x_T`$, since all available data are for $`p_T`$ larger than 1–2 GeV/$`c`$. For larger $`x_T0.3`$, a value of $`n=5.1`$ CCOR ; ABCS  improves the scaling for the 3 lower c.m. energies, $`\sqrt{s}=38.7`$, 52.7 and 62.4 GeV. It will be a challenge at RHIC to obtain data in this $`x_T`$ range to see whether the value of $`n5`$ is the asymptotic limit for inclusive single particle production or whether $`n`$ reaches the (LO) QCD value of 4. $`x_T`$-scaling has also been studied in jet production at $`\sqrt{s}=630`$ and 1800 GeV Huston , where $`n=4.45`$ is observed in the jet $`x_T`$ range 0.15–0.3.

In $`Au+Au`$ collisions, $`x_T`$-scaling should work just as well as in $`p+p`$ collisions and should yield the same value of $`n(x_T,\sqrt{s})`$ if the high $`p_T`$ particles are the result of hard-scattering according to QCD. This is because the structure and fragmentation functions in $`Au+Au`$ collisions should scale, so that Eq. 19 applies, albeit with a different $`G(x_T)`$. Thus, if the suppression of high-$`p_T`$ particles with respect to point-like scaling from $`p+p`$ collisions is due to shadowing of the structure functions EKS98  or gluon saturation dima , which are basically scaling effects 444There is a slight non scaling effect of the structure functions EKS98  since for fixed $`x_T`$, $`Q^2`$ changes by a factor of 2.4 between the two $`\sqrt{s_{NN}}`$., rather than due to a final state interaction with the dense medium, which may not scale, the cross sections (Eq. 19) at a given $`x_T`$ (and centrality) should all exhibit the same suppression. The initial state shadowing may cause $`G(x_T)`$ to change with centrality, but $`n(x_T,\sqrt{s})`$ should remain constant. In the case of the interaction with the dense medium, $`x_T`$-scaling may or may not hold, depending on the details of the energy loss, for instance, whether or not the energy loss of the hard-scattered parton scales with its energy. It is also conceivable that the high $`p_T`$ particles observed in $`Au+Au`$ collisions at RHIC have nothing to do with QCD hard-scattering coalence ; junction ; gallmeister . In this case, striking differences from Eq. 19 and the systematics observed in $`p+p`$ collisions should be expected.

To test $`x_T`$-scaling in $`Au+Au`$ collisions, we plot the quantities defined by Eq. 20 in Figure 17 for charged hadron and $`\pi ^0`$ data from $`\sqrt{s_{NN}}`$ = 130 GeV and 200 GeV for central (0-10%) and peripheral (60-80%) collisions. For the power $`n`$, we use the same value $`n(x_T,\sqrt{s})=6.3`$ that was used for the $`p+p`$ data shown in Figure 15b and Figure 16b. The data are consistent with $`x_T`$-scaling over the range $`0.03x_T0.06`$ for $`\pi ^0`$ and $`0.04x_T0.075`$ for $`(h^++h^{})/2`$.

According to Eq. 19, the ratio of inclusive cross sections at fixed $`x_T`$ equals $`(200/130)^n`$. Thus, the power $`n(x_T,\sqrt{s})`$ is related directly to the logarithm of the ratio of invariant hadron yield at fixed $`x_T`$ as:

$$n(x_T)=\frac{log(yield(x_T,130GeV)/yield(x_T,200GeV))}{log(200/130)}.$$
(21)
The power $`n^{}`$s for both neutral pions and charged hadrons for central and peripheral collisions are shown in Figure 18. While the $`\pi ^0`$ data in central and peripheral collisions and charged hadron data in peripheral collisions seem to favor a similar power $`n`$, the charged hadron data from central collisions require a larger value of $`n`$.

For a more quantitative analysis, the $`Au+Au`$ data for a given centrality and hadron selection are fitted simultaneously for $`\sqrt{s_{NN}}`$ = 130 and 200 GeV to the form,

$$\left(\frac{A}{\sqrt{s}}\right)^n(x_T)^m,$$
(22)
where we have approximated Eq. 19 by using a constant power $`n(x_T,\sqrt{s})`$ and a power-law, $`x_T^m`$, for $`G(x_T)`$ over a limited range in $`x_T`$. The fit results and errors are quoted in Table 6. The corresponding ratios of yields are presented by lines in Figure 18, where the fit ranges ($`0.03x_T0.06`$ for $`\pi ^0`$s and $`0.04x_T0.074`$ for charged hadrons) are indicated by the length of the line.

For peripheral collisions the fitted values for the power are $`n=6.33\pm 0.54`$ and $`n=6.12\pm 0.49`$, for $`\pi ^0`$ and charged hadrons respectively, which are in quantitative agreement with the expectation from $`p+p`$ collisions. Approximate $`x_T`$-scaling in peripheral $`Au+Au`$ collisions with the same power as observed in $`p+p`$ collisions indicates that hard-scattering is the dominating production mechanism for high $`p_T`$ particles. In central collisions, neutral pions also exhibit $`x_T`$-scaling with a similar power, $`n=6.41\pm 0.55`$. Thus, it seems that high-$`p_T`$ $`\pi ^0`$ production is consistent with hard-scattering, with scaling structure and fragmentation functions, for all centralities.

For charged hadrons, the power found for central collisions is $`n=7.53\pm 0.44`$. Most of the systematic errors are common and cancel between central and peripheral collisions, thus the difference of the two powers found for charged hadrons, $`\mathrm{\Delta }n=n_{cent}n_{periph}=1.41\pm 0.43`$ compared with that for neutral pion $`\mathrm{\Delta }n=0.09\pm 0.47`$, is significant.

This difference is consistent with the large proton and anti-proton enhancement in central $`Au+Au`$ collisions for intermediate $`p_T`$ seen at $`\sqrt{s_{NN}}=130`$ and 200 GeV, which appears to violate $`x_T`$-scaling. The $`x_T`$ range $`0.04x_T0.074`$ corresponds to $`4<p_T<7.4`$ GeV/$`c`$ at $`\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200`$ GeV, but it corresponds to $`2.6<p_T<4.8`$ GeV/$`c`$ at $`\sqrt{s_{NN}}`$ = 130 GeV. If protons are enhanced at $`2<p_T<4.5`$ GeV/$`c`$ in central collisions at both $`\sqrt{s_{NN}}`$ = 130 GeV and 200 GeV, then $`n_{cent}`$ will be larger than $`n_{periph}`$ in the measured $`x_T`$ range. Since $`\sqrt{s_{NN}}`$ = 200 GeV data indicate that the proton enhancement is limited to the medium $`p_T`$ range, based on the equality of $`R_{AA}`$ for charged hadrons and $`\pi ^0`$ at $`p_T>4.5`$ GeV/$`c`$ (Figure 12), this difference should go away at larger $`x_T`$ .

## IV SUMMARY

We have presented a systematic study of the $`p_T`$ and centrality dependence of charged hadron production at $`|\eta |<`$0.18 at $`\sqrt{s_{NN}}`$ = 200 GeV. The yields per nucleon-nucleon collision in central collisions are significantly suppressed compared to peripheral and nucleon-nucleon collisions. The suppression is approximately independent of $`p_T`$ above 4.5 GeV/$`c`$ for all centrality classes, suggesting a similar spectral shape between $`Au+Au`$ and $`p+p`$ collisions. At $`p_T>4.5`$, charged hadron suppression is the same as for neutral pions; the ratio $`h/\pi ^0`$ is $`1.6`$ for all centralities, similar to the $`h/\pi `$ value measured in $`p+p`$ and $`e^+e^{}`$ collisions. The similar spectral shape and particle composition at high $`p_T`$ are consistent with jet fragmentation as the dominating mechanism of particle production in $`Au+Au`$ collisions for $`p_T>`$ 4–5 GeV/$`c`$. For both charged hadrons and neutral pions, the suppression sets in gradually from peripheral to central collisions, consistent with the expectation of partonic energy loss and surface emission of high $`p_T`$ hadrons. $`x_T`$-scaled hadron yields are compared between $`\sqrt{s_{NN}}`$ = 130 GeV and $`\sqrt{s_{NN}}`$ = 200 GeV $`Au+Au`$ collisions. We find that the $`x_T`$ scaling power $`n`$ calculated for neutral pions in central and peripheral collisions and charged hadron in peripheral collisions is $`6.3\pm 0.6`$, similar to $`p+p`$ collisions. This again points towards similar production dynamics, i.e. hard-scattering processes as described by QCD. However, $`n`$ is $`7.5\pm 0.5`$ for charged hadrons in central collisions, indicating a strong non-scaling modification of particle composition of charged hadron spectra from that of $`p+p`$ at intermediate $`p_T`$, 2–4.5 GeV/$`c`$. This is consistent with the large $`h/\pi ^0`$ ratios observed over the same $`p_T`$ range in central collisions.

###### Acknowledgements.

We thank the staff of the Collider-Accelerator and Physics Departments at Brookhaven National Laboratory and the staff of the other PHENIX participating institutions for their vital contributions. We acknowledge support from the Department of Energy, Office of Science, Nuclear Physics Division, the National Science Foundation, Abilene Christian University Research Council, Research Foundation of SUNY, and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Vanderbilt University (U.S.A), Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (Japan), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (Brazil), Natural Science Foundation of China (People’s Republic of China), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique, Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules, and Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules, (France), Bundesministerium fuer Bildung und Forschung, Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst, and Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung (Germany), Hungarian National Science Fund, OTKA (Hungary), Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Science and Technology (India), Israel Science Foundation (Israel), Korea Research Foundation and Center for High Energy Physics (Korea), Russian Ministry of Industry, Science and Tekhnologies, Russian Academy of Science, Russian Ministry of Atomic Energy (Russia), VR and the Wallenberg Foundation (Sweden), the U.S. Civilian Research and Development Foundation for the Independent States of the Former Soviet Union, the US-Hungarian NSF-OTKA-MTA, the US-Israel Binational Science Foundation, and the 5th European Union TMR Marie-Curie Programme.


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# 1 Introduction

## 1 Introduction

The analysis of the process of new-product diffusion is an important research area in both marketing science and economics. From the former perspective, the emphasis is on forecasting future sales for a new product depending on the use of elements of the marketing mix (see e.g. ). From the latter perspective, that analysis might establish some generic features of the dynamics of individual preferences, an issue which has received only little attention in economic theory so far.

An aggregate model of new-product diffusion widely accepted in marketing and business science is due to Bass . This model has seen numerous refinements over the years (for an overview, see ) and can reproduce the evolution of sales over a wide range of the product life cycle, essentially employing a two-parameter fit. However, the Bass model and its refinements fail to account for the early stages of the diffusion process in which sales often fail to raise distinctively over a prolonged period of time (cf. , p.21 and ).

In recent years, stochastic micromodels of new-product diffusion have begun to emerge (see e.g. ). In the most simple setting, each consumer is assumed to form independently her valuation (or expectation about the product’s quality) of the new product and to buy if the price (quality) of the product is smaller (greater) than her valuation (expected quality), respectively.

Our approach follows the basic framework of social percolation  but differs from previous percolation-based models of new-product diffusion in two respects. First, we consider macroscopic feedbacks affecting the supply or demand side of the market (or both). In the former case, the price of the product decreases with the cumulative quantity of the product already sold in earlier periods reflecting decreasing production costs. In the latter case, the individual valuation of the product increases with the proportion of other consumers already using the product. Thus, in both cases the probability of an individual to buy the product increases over time. Second, a consumer who did not buy the product in the period in which her valuation was formed remains a potential buyer and buys in some later period if and when her individual valuation equals or exceeds the price of the product.

We find that our framework provides a possible explanation for the empirical finding of long tails in early stages of innovation diffusion and is, up to our knowledge, the first instance of a percolation-based model to do so.

The structure of the paper is as follows. In Section 2 we present the specification of our model. Section 3 provides some generic aspects of the resulting dynamics.

## 2 The model

We model the diffusion of a new product (consumer durable) within a large population $`A`$ consisting of $`N`$ consumers. Each consumer might buy either one unit of the product or none. Time is discrete and indexed by the natural numbers.

First, the specification of our model without macroscopic feedback effects is presented. If consumer $`aA`$ has learned in some period $`t_a`$ about the new product, either from global information sources, e.g. the media, or from other consumers who had already bought the product in earlier periods, she forms her individual valuation reflected in the reservation price $`p_a`$ (i.e. the highest price at which she would buy). We assume that $`p_a`$ is a realization of the random variable $`R_a`$ with values in $`[0,1]`$ and probability density function $`r_a`$. Throughout this paper we assume that $`(R_a)_{aA}`$ is an independently identically distributed family of random variables and $`r`$ will denote the probability density function common to all consumers.

We use a simple specification of the supply side. We assume that there is a single firm producing the new product and it uses mark-up pricing (see e.g. ), i.e. the price $`p_t`$ of the product in period $`t`$ equals

$$p_t=(1+m)c_t$$
(1)
with $`c_t`$ denoting the unit production costs in period $`t`$ and $`m`$ a positive number, the time-constant mark-up.

To model a consumer’s decision to buy the new product, we assume that consumer $`a`$ buys the product in period $`t`$ with $`tt_a`$ if $`p_ap_t`$ and $`p_a<p_\tau `$ $`\tau :t_a\tau <t`$.

Furthermore, we need to specify how information about the existence and the characteristics of the product spreads out in the population of consumers, as a consumer can form her valuation of the product only if she has obtained this information.111In the present model, we assume that the information passed from one consumer to another is objective in the sense that the valuation formed by the recipient of the information does not depend on the valuation of the provider of the information. An important part of that specification is the choice of an appropriate graph structure representing the underlying social communication network. In the present paper we restrict our attention to the case of a two-dimensional integer-lattice.

We specify the following structure of information flow. In the first period, there appears a fixed number of buyers located randomly over the lattice who are assumed to have learned about the product from global information sources. In each of the following periods, the neighbours of the consumers who have bought the product in the immediately preceeding period form their valuations.222We remark that some of the neighbours of a new buyer might have already formed their valuations in some earlier period as neighbours of some other buyer. In that case, the previous valuations remain unchanged. Each consumer who has formed a valuation, either in the present or in previous periods (and has not yet bought the product), then decides whether to buy or not depending on the price announced by the producer. Thus, unlike in the standard Leath-algorithm used for the simulation of percolation models, a site once declared inactive may be activated later on (this aspect will be relevant in the framework with feedback effects).

Up to this point, our specification corresponds to a standard percolation model. Now we turn to macroscopic feedback effects affecting supply and demand. In modelling the feedback affecting the supply side, we assume that unit production costs decrease with the cumulative quantity of units already produced. The decrease of unit production costs is empirically well established and explained by learning within the firm. Decreasing unit production costs are associated with the notion of the “learning curve” in business science  and with the related notion of “economies of scale” in economics (for an overview see e.g. ). The effect will be quantified by a functional relationship $`c_t=f(x_{t1})`$ with $`x_{t1}`$ denoting the fraction of consumers who bought the product up to period $`t1`$ and $`f`$ an empirically grounded function (which will be specified numerically in Section 3) with $`f^{}(x)<0`$ and $`f^{\prime \prime }(x)>0`$ for the non-negative real numbers. Thus, by Equation (1) we have

$$p_t=(1+m)f(x_{t1})$$
(2)
We model the feedback affecting the demand side by assuming that the reservation price $`p_a`$ is augmented by an amount proportional to $`x_{t1}`$ reflecting the notion of “network externalities” increasing the utility of a product with the number of other users . Thus, in general, we have a time-dependent reservation price

$$p_{a,t}=p_a+\mu x_{t1},$$
(3)
with some constant $`\mu `$ which we assume to be independent of $`a`$ for simplicity.

Depending on the nature of the product considered, either one of the feedback effects might vanish. For instance, computer software presumably exhibits only the second kind of feedback effect, while household electronics only the first. Moreover, the reader will notice that both types of macroscopic feedback effects are mathematically equivalent in the sense that with increasing $`x_{t1}`$ both narrow the gap between the price of the product and the reservation price of consumers who have not yet bought the product. For that reason, all our qualitative results remain unchanged if only one of the effects is considered at a time.

## 3 Some results on the dynamics of new-product diffusion

This section presents some generic features, obtained by Monte Carlo simulation, of the evolution of sales resulting from our model with the individual reservation price distributed in $`[0,1]`$.333With a truncated normal distribution on $`[0,1]`$, we obtain results which do not differ qualitatively from the ones presented. We restrict ourselves to those features of our model which are novel as compared with previous percolation-based new-product diffusion models.

Serving as a prototypical example of the long-tailed diffusion curve, Figure 1 (top) depicts the cumulative number of adopters of a novel agricultural technique in Iowa. The data in Figure 1 (top) is adapted from . More examples of long-tailed diffusion curves can be found in . Figure 1 (bottom) depicts a diffusion curve resulting from our model with macroscopic feedback affecting the demand side only for a setting with one initial buyer in period $`t=1`$, a $`400\times 400`$ lattice, a time-independent price $`p=0.433`$ and the parameter $`\mu `$ equal to $`0.4`$. The data is averaged over $`500`$ simulation runs. The reader may think of this averaged curve as modelling new-product diffusion in a population located in many towns with network externalities affecting the population within a single town only.

A comparison of Figure 1 (top) and (bottom) illustrates that our model can explain long flat tails empirically observed in the early stages of new-product diffusion. To our knowledge, this particular feature of new-product diffusion has not been obtained from percolation-based micromodels so far.

The feature of long tails in the early stages of the new-product diffusion, visible in Figure 1 (bottom), obtains in our model for a wide range of parameters and initial settings. Figures 2 and 3 provide a more detailed characterization of that feature.

Figure 2 depicts the evolution of per-period sales (left-hand side) and cumulative sales (right-hand side) resulting from a specification with one initial buyer in period $`t=1`$ on a $`400\times 400`$ lattice. Macroscopic feedback affect the demand side only; the time-independent price is set to $`p=0.435`$ (top) and $`p=0.421`$ (bottom) and the constant $`\mu `$ describing the influence of network externalities equals $`0.4`$. For both prices, the curves are obtained by averaging over $`500`$ simulation runs.

Note that the product price corresponding to the site-percolation threshold for the underlying model on a two-dimensional lattice equals approximately $`0.407`$ as a consumer buys if her reservation price, uniformly distributed on $`[0,1]`$, equals or exceeds the product price. Thus, for both prices in Figure 2 percolation would not occur in the standard percolation model. However, because individual reservation prices increase with the proportion of buyers $`x_t`$ some simulation runs persist up to the point where percolation occurs. Thus, averaged over $`500`$ runs, the per-period sales curve exhibits two specific phases. First, a slow take-off, in some cases even displaying a temporary decrease of per-period sales, resulting from runs who terminate before reaching the percolation threshold. Second, a distinct rise following the slow start resulting from those runs which reached the percolation threshold.

The length of the long left tail increases with $`p`$ and decreases with $`\mu `$ ceteris paribus, respectively. A comparison of Figure 2 (top) with Figure 2 (bottom) exemplifies the first part of this statement. Furthermore, the decrease of per period sales in the first phase as visible in Figure 2 (top, left-hand side), is amplified with increasing price, ceteris paribus.

Figure 3 shows three curves corresponding to per-period sales, cumulative sales and the evolution of the product price resulting from a single simulation run in a setting with macroscopic feedback affecting the supply side only. The initial number of buyers equals 3000 and lattice size is $`1500\times 1500`$. Initial price $`p_0`$ is set to $`0.52`$.

We use the following specification of the empirically grounded functional relationship $`f`$ (see Equation (2)) quantifying the cost decrease, and thus the decrease of the product price, with the number of product units sold:

$$(1+m)f(x)=p_0qx+\alpha x^2.$$
(4)
In this specification in terms of the fraction of buyers $`x_t`$ as variable, $`p_0`$ denotes the initial price, i.e $`(1+m)f(0)=p_0`$, $`q>0`$ the absolute value of the initial slope of $`(1+m)f`$, i.e. $`(1+m)f^{}(0)=q`$ and $`\alpha `$ a constant determining the convexity of the price decrease function. Figure 3 corresponds to the parameter values $`q=0.5`$, and $`p_0=0.52`$ and $`\alpha =0.295`$.

As Figure 3 indicates, the same characteristics of diffusion curves as displayed by the averaged curves of Figure 2 can be obtained from a single simulation run. This fact is important because a market only allows for one price for a single product and thus averaged curves are difficult to interpret in the case of macroscopic feedbacks affecting price.


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# Rapidly Rotating Bose-Einstein Condensates in and near the Lowest Landau Level

## Abstract

We create rapidly rotating Bose-Einstein condensates in the lowest Landau level, by spinning up the condensates to rotation rates $`\mathrm{\Omega }>\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}99}\%`$ of the centrifugal limit for a harmonically trapped gas, while reducing the number of atoms. As a consequence, the chemical potential drops below the cyclotron energy $`2\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Omega }`$. While in this mean-field quantum Hall regime we still observe an ordered vortex lattice, its elastic shear strength is strongly reduced, as evidenced by the observed very low frequency of Tkachenko modes. Furthermore, the gas approaches the quasi-two-dimensional limit. The associated cross-over from interacting- to ideal-gas behavior along the rotation axis results in a shift of the axial breathing mode frequency.

Rotating Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) provide a conceptual link between the physics of trapped gases and the physics of condensed matter systems such as superfluids, type-II superconductors and quantum Hall effect (QHE) materials. In all these systems, striking counterintuitive effects emerge when an external flux penetrates the sample. For charged particles this flux can be provided by a magnetic field, leading to the formation of Abrikosov flux line lattices in type-II superconductors, or in QHE systems to the formation of correlated electron-liquids and composite quasiparticles made of electrons with attached flux quanta. For neutral superfluids, the analog to a magnetic field is a rotation of the system, which similarly spawns vortices. In rotating atomic BECs, the creation of large ordered Abrikosov lattices of vortices  has recently become possible.

Here we examine the vortex lattice of harmonically trapped BECs approaching the high rotation limit, when the centrifugal force quite nearly cancels the radial confining force. The formal analogy of neutral atoms in this limit with electrons in a strong magnetic field has led to the prediction that quantum-Hall like properties should emerge in rapidly rotating atomic BECs. In particular, the single-particle energy states organize into Landau levels, and if interactions are weaker than the cyclotron energy, primarily the near-degenerate states of the lowest Landau level (LLL) are occupied. For rotating bosons in the LLL, three regimes have been identified, distinguished by the filling factor $`\nu N_p/N_v`$, i.e., the ratio of the number of particles ($`N_p`$) to vortices ($`N_v`$). For high filling factors (always $`500`$ in our system), the condensate is in the mean-field quantum Hall regime and forms an ordered vortex lattice ground state. With decreasing filling factor, the elastic shear strength of the vortex lattice decreases, which is reflected in very low frequencies of long-wavelength transverse lattice excitations (Tkachenko oscillations). For filling factors below $`\nu 10`$ the shear strength is predicted to drop sufficiently for quantum fluctuations to melt the vortex lattice, and a variety of strongly correlated vortex liquid states similar to those in the Fermionic fractional QHE are predicted to appear. For still lower $`\nu `$ exotic quasiparticle excitations obeying fractional statistics are predicted.

In this Letter we report the observation of rapidly rotating BECs in the lowest Landau level, and provide evidence that the elastic shear strength of the vortex lattice drops substantially as the BEC enters the mean-field quantum Hall regime. This effect is a precursor to the predicted quantum melting of the lattice at lower filling factors. Our rapidly rotating condensates spin out into a pancake shape and approach the quasi-two-dimensional regime. We observe a corresponding cross-over in the spectrum of breathing excitations along the axial direction. The high rotation limit has been studied experimentally in Ref., focusing on effects of a rotating trap anisotropy, which is not present in our setup, and in Ref. where the addition of a quartic term to the trapping potential led to a loss of vortex visibility.

Our experiments take place in an axially symmetric harmonic trap with oscillation frequencies $`\{\omega _\rho ,\omega _z\}=2\pi \{8.3,5.3\}\mathrm{Hz}`$. Using an evaporative spin-up technique described in Ref.  we create condensates containing up to $`5.5\times 10^6`$ $`{}_{}{}^{87}Rb`$ atoms in the $`|F=1,m_F=1`$ state, rotating about the vertical, z axis, at a rate $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Omega }}=0.95`$ ($`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Omega }}\mathrm{\Omega }/\omega _\rho `$ is the rotation rate $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ scaled by the centrifugal rotation limit $`\omega _\rho `$ for a harmonically trapped gas). To further approach the limit $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Omega }}1`$, we employ an optical spin-up technique, where the BEC is illuminated uniformly with laser light, and the recoil from spontaneously scattered photons removes atoms from the condensate. Since the condensate is optically thin to the laser light, atoms are removed without position or angular-momentum selectivity, such that angular momentum per particle is unchanged. Atom loss leads to a small decrease in cloud radius which, through conservation of angular momentum, increases $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Omega }}`$. Over a period of up to 2 seconds we decrease the number of BEC atoms by up to a factor of $`100`$, to $`5\times 10^4`$, while increasing $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Omega }}`$ from $`0.95`$ to more than $`0.99`$. At this point, further reduction in number degrades the quality of images unacceptably. Ongoing evaporation is imposed to retain a quasi-pure BEC with no discernible thermal cloud.

With increasing rotation, centrifugal force distorts the cloud into an extremely oblate shape \[see Fig.1\] and reduces the density significantly - thus the BEC approaches the quasi-two-dimensional regime. For the highest rotation rates we achieve, the chemical potential $`\mu `$ is reduced close to the axial oscillator energy, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{2D}\frac{\mu }{2\mathrm{}\omega _z}1.5`$, and the gas undergoes a cross-over from interacting- to ideal-gas behavior along the axial direction. To probe this cross-over, we excite the lowest order axial breathing mode over a range of rotation rates. For a BEC in the axial Thomas-Fermi regime, an axial breathing frequency $`\omega _B=\sqrt{3}\omega _z`$ has been predicted in the limit $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Omega }}1`$, whereas $`\omega _B=2\omega _z`$ is expected for a non-interacting gas.

To excite the breathing mode, we jump the axial trap frequency by $`6\%`$, while leaving the radial frequency unchanged (within $`<0.5\%`$). To extract the axial breathing frequency $`\omega _B`$, we take 13 nondestructive in-trap images of the cloud, perpendicular to the axis of rotation. From the oscillation of the axial Thomas-Fermi radius in time we obtain $`\omega _B`$. Rotation rates are obtained from the aspect ratio by averaging over all 13 images to eliminate the effect of axial breathing. As shown in Fig. 2(a), we do indeed observe a frequency cross-over from $`\omega _B=\sqrt{3}\omega _z`$ to $`\omega _B=2\omega _z`$ as $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Omega }}1`$. To quantify under which conditions the cross-over occurs, we plot the same data vs. $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{2D}`$ \[Fig. 2(b)\], where the chemical potential is determined from the measured atom number, the rotation rate and the trap frequencies. For $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{2D}<3`$, the ratio $`\omega _B/\omega _z`$ starts to deviate from the predicted hydrodynamic value, and approaches $`2`$ for our lowest $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{2D}1.5`$.

As $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Omega }}1`$, also the dynamics in the radial plane are affected. For the highest rotation rates, interactions become sufficiently weak that the chemical potential $`\mu `$ drops below the cyclotron energy $`2\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Omega }`$, which is only a few percent smaller than the Landau level spacing $`2\mathrm{}\omega _\rho `$. Then, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{LLL}\frac{\mu }{2\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Omega }}<1`$, and the condensate primarily occupies single-particle states in the LLL. These form a ladder of near-degenerate states, with a frequency splitting of $`ϵ=\omega _\rho \mathrm{\Omega }`$. The number of occupied states is $`N_{LLL}\frac{\mu }{\mathrm{}ϵ}`$. We are able to create condensates with $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{LLL}`$ as low as $`0.6`$, which occupy $`N_{LLL}120`$ states with a splitting $`ϵ<2\pi \mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}0.06}\mathrm{Hz}`$. In this regime of near-degenerate single-particle states a drastic decrease of the lattice’s elastic shear strength takes place. The elastic shear modulus $`C_2`$ is predicted by Baym to decrease with increasing rotation rate from its value in the “stiff” Thomas-Fermi (TF) limit, $`C_2^{TF}=n_{(\mathrm{\Omega })}\mathrm{}\mathrm{\Omega }/8`$ (where $`n_{(\mathrm{\Omega })}`$ is the BEC number density) to its value in the mean-field quantum Hall regime, of $`C_2^{LLL}0.16\times \mathrm{\Gamma }_{LLL}\times C_2^{TF}`$. We directly probe this shear strength by exciting the lowest order azimuthally symmetric lattice mode ( $`(n=1,m=0)`$ Tkachenko mode). Its frequency $`\omega _{(1,0)}\sqrt{C_2}`$ is expected to drop by a factor $`2.5`$ below the TF prediction when $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{LLL}=1`$.

Our excitation technique for Tkachenko modes has been described in Ref. . In brief, we shine a focused red detuned laser ($`\lambda =850\mathrm{nm}`$) onto the BEC center, along the axis of rotation. This laser draws atoms into the center, and Coriolis force diverts the atoms’ inward motion into the lattice rotation direction. The vortex lattice adjusts to this distortion, and after we turn off the beam, the lattice elasticity drives oscillations at the frequency $`\omega _{(1,0)}`$. We observe the oscillation by varying the wait time after the excitation, and then expanding the condensate before imaging the vortex lattice along the z-axis \[see Fig. 3(a),(b)\]. In Fig. 3(c), we compare the measured frequencies $`\omega _{(1,0)}`$ to the predictions of Ref. for the TF limit and for the mean-field quantum Hall regime. For $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Omega }}<0.98`$ ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{LLL}>3`$), the frequency $`\omega _{(1,0)}`$ follows the prediction for the TF regime, whereas by $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Omega }}=0.990`$ ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{LLL}=1.5`$), $`\omega _{(1,0)}`$ has dropped to close to the prediction for the LLL, thus providing evidence for the cross-over to the lower shear modulus $`C_2`$ predicted for the LLL.

While we are able to produce clouds with $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{LLL}`$ measured to be substantially lower than $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{LLL}=1.5`$, we are unable to accurately measure Tkachenko frequencies under these extreme conditions, due at least in part to the very weakness of $`C_2`$. The Tkachenko mode frequencies become so low that it takes multiple seconds to track even a quarter oscillation \[Fig. 3(a),(b)\], while at the same time the very weak shear strength means that even minor perturbations to the cloud can cause the lattice to melt and the individual cores to lose contrast in a matter of seconds. These perturbations can result from residual asymmetry of the magnetic trapping potential, or from spatial structure in the optical beam used to reduce the atom number, or perhaps from thermal fluctuations. In contrast, for a “stiff” cloud of $`3\times 10^6`$ atoms at $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Omega }}=0.95`$ ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{LLL}7`$) we observe that the lattice remains ordered, and $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Omega }}`$ can be kept constant, over the entire $`1/e`$ lifetime of the BEC ($`3`$ minutes).

Finally we discuss observations related to two other predicted consequences of rapid rotation. First, the radial condensate density profile has been predicted to change from the parabolic Thomas-Fermi (TF) profile to a Gaussian profile in the LLL. We create clouds with varying values of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{LLL}`$ down to as small as $`0.6`$, and after $`3\mathrm{sec}`$ equilibration time acquire images of the radial density profile. These images fit better to a TF profile than to a Gaussian, showing no signs of a cross-over in the radial density profile as the LLL is entered. On the theoretical side, it has been pointed out that, whereas the predictions of Ref. are based on an assumption that the areal density of vortices is uniform, a very small deviation from uniformity could account for an overall TF density profile. Furthermore, according to Ref., a Gaussian radial profile is to be expected only if $`Na/R_z1`$ ($`N`$: number of atoms in the BEC, $`a`$: scattering length, $`R_z`$: axial BEC radius), whereas our measurements were performed on condensates with $`Na/R_z26`$. It certainly seems reasonable to expect a TF profile for a given direction when the chemical potential is much greater than the confining frequency in that direction, and for our condensates with $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{LLL}=0.6`$, the chemical potential $`\mu /\mathrm{}2\pi \mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}10}\mathrm{Hz}`$ while the (centrifugally weakened) effective radial trap frequency $`\omega _{eff}=\sqrt{\omega _\rho ^2\mathrm{\Omega }^2}2\pi \mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}1}\mathrm{Hz}`$.

Second, there has been a debate about the possibility of vortex core overlap in the high rotation limit. To achieve adequate imaging resolution, we expand the BEC before imaging the vortex lattice. Our expansion procedure leads to nearly pure two-dimensional (2-d) expansion (a thirteen-fold expansion in radius occurs while the axial size changes by $`25\%`$). We expect that under these conditions, the ratio of the vortex core area to the lattice’s unit cell area should be preserved throughout the expansion process. We fit a 2-d Gaussian to the missing optical density associated with each vortex core. The vortex radius $`r_v`$ is defined to be the RMS radius of the 2-d Gaussian, which is $`0.60`$ times its FWHM. We then define the fractional area $`𝒜`$ occupied by the vortices to be $`𝒜`$ $`=n_v\pi r_v^2`$, where $`n_v`$ is the areal density of vortices. In the limit of many vortices, the theoretical prediction for $`n_v`$ is $`m\mathrm{\Omega }/(\pi \mathrm{})`$.

To determine a theoretical value for the vortex core size, we perform a numerical simulation of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation of a BEC containing an isolated vortex. We obtain $`r_v=1.94\times \xi `$ with $`\xi =(8\pi na)^{\frac{1}{2}}`$, where $`a`$ is the scattering length and $`n`$ is the density. The resulting prediction for $`𝒜`$ can be expressed as $`𝒜`$ $`=1.34\times (\mathrm{\Gamma }_{LLL})^1`$. This value exceeds unity for $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{LLL}<1.34`$, which has led to the prediction that vortices should merge in the LLL limit. An alternate treatment due to Baym and coworkers on the other hand predicts that $`𝒜`$ saturates at $`0.225`$ in the LLL. Our data for $`𝒜`$ are plotted in Fig. 4. For $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{LLL}^1<0.1`$ the data agree reasonably well with our numerical result. For larger $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{LLL}^1`$ the data clearly show saturation of $`𝒜`$ at a value close to the LLL limit, rather than a divergence of $`𝒜`$ as $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Omega }}1`$. Further details on vortex core structure will be provided in a future publication.

In conclusion, we have created rapidly rotating BECs in the lowest Landau level. The vortex lattice remains ordered, but its elastic shear strength is drastically reduced. In expansion-images we find no divergence of vortex core area as $`\stackrel{~}{\mathrm{\Omega }}1`$, as well as no deviation from a radial Thomas-Fermi profile. Additionally, our rapidly rotating BECs approach the quasi-two-dimensional limit. We remain far from the regime in which quantum fluctuations should destroy the lattice, but observing the effects of thermal fluctuations in this reduced-dimensionality system may be possible.

We would like to acknowledge G. Baym, C. Pethick, J. Sinova, J. Diaz-Velez, C. Hanna, A. MacDonald, N. Read and D. Feder for useful discussions and calculations. This work was funded by NSF and NIST. V.M. acknowledges financial support from the Netherlands Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter (FOM).