High-p_T charged hadron suppression in Au+Au collisions at √s_NN=200 GeV

Abstract

The PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider has measured charged hadron yields at midrapidity over a wide range of transverse momenta (0.5<p_T<10 GeV/c) in Au+Au collisions at √s_NN=200 GeV. The data are compared to π⁰ measurements from the same experiment. For both charged hadrons and neutral pions, the yields per nucleon-nucleon collision are significantly suppressed in central compared to peripheral and nucleon-nucleon collisions. The suppression sets in gradually and increases with increasing centrality of the collisions. Above 4-5 GeV/c in p_T, a constant and almost identical suppression of charged hadrons and π⁰'s is observed. The p_T spectra are compared to published spectra from Au+Au at √s_NN=130 in terms of x_T scaling. Central and peripheral π⁰ as well as peripheral charged spectra exhibit the same x_T scaling as observed in p+p data.