K(892)* resonance production in Au+Au and p+p Collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV
J. Adams et al., Phys. Rev. C71, 064902(2005).

Figure 1: dE/dx for negative particles vs. momentum measured by the TPC in Au+Au collisions. The curves are the Bethe-Bloch parametrization for different particle species. (Data values omitted.)

Figure 2: K_S⁰ signal observed in the p⁺p^- invariant mass distribution reconstructed from the decay topology method via K_S⁰®p⁺p^- in p+p collisions. The dashed curve depicts the Gaussian fit function plus a linear function representing the background.

Figure 3: The unlike-sign Kp  invariant mass distribution (open symbols) and the mixed-event Kp  invariant mass distribution after normalization (solid curve) from minimum bias Au+Au collisions. (Data values omitted)

Figure 4: The unlike-sign Kp  invariant mass distribution (open symbols) and the like-sign Kp  invariant mass distribution (solid curve) from minimum bias Au+Au collisions. (Data values omitted)

Figure 5: The Kp  invariant mass distribution after event-mixing background subtraction (open star symbols) and like-sign background subtraction with different daughter momentum cuts (0.2<kaon and pion p < 10 GeV/c) for filled square symbols, 0.2 < kaon p < 0.7 GeV/c and 0.2 < pion p < 10 GeV/c for open triangle symbols) demonstrating the sources for the residual background in minimum bias Au+Au collisions. The open triangle symbols have been scaled up by a factor of 3 to increase visibility. The arrow depicts the standard K^*0 mass of 896.1 MeV/c².

Figure 6: The Kp  invariant mass distribution integrated over the K* p_T for central Au+Au (upper panel) and minimum bias p+p (lower panel) interactions after the mixed-event background subtraction. The solid curves are the fits to Eq. (5) with T_f0=120 MeV and p_T=1.8 GeV/c for central Au+Au and T_f0=160 MeV and p_T=0.8 GeV/c for p+p, respectively. The dashed lines are the linear functions representing the residual background.

Figure 7: The K^*0 mass (upper panel) and width (lower panel) as a function of p_T for minimum bias p+p interactions and for central Au+Au collisions. The solid straight lines are the standard K^*0 mass (896.1 MeV/c^2) and width (50.7 MeV/c^2) [32], respectively. The dashed and dotted curves are the MC results in minimum bias p+p and for central Au+Au collisions, respectively, after considering detector effects and kinematic cuts. The grey shadows (caps) indicate the systematic uncertainties for the measurement in minimum bias p+p interactions (central Au+Au collisions).

Figure 8: The K_S⁰p^± invariant mass distribution integrated over the K^*± p_T for minimum bias p+p collisions (upper panel) and for the 50-80% of the inelastic hadronic Au+Au cross-section (lower panel) after the mixed-event background subtraction. The solid curves are fits to Eq. (10) and the dashed lines are the linear function representing the residual background.

Figure 9: The K^*0 and K^*± reconstruction efficiency multiplied by the detector acceptance as a function of p_T in minimum bias p+p and different centralities in Au+Au collisions.

Figure 10: The (K^*+anti-K^*)/2 invariant yields as a function of m_T-m₀ for |y|<0.5 from minimum bias p+p and different centralities in Au+Au collisions. The top 10% central data have been multiplied by two for clarity. The lines are fits to Eq. (12). The errors shown are the quadratic sum of statistical and systematic (in the level of 10%) uncertainties.

Figure 11: The invariant yields for both (K^*0+anti-K^*0)/2 and (K^*++K^*-)/2 as a function of p_T for |y|<0.5 in minimum bias p+p interactions. The dotted curve is the fit to the power-law function from Equation (13) for p_T>0.5 GeV/c and extended to lower values of p_T. The dashed curve is the K^*0 spectrum fit to the exponential function from Equation (12) and extended to higher values of p_T. The dashed-dotted curve is the fit to the Levy function from Equation (14) for p_T <4 GeV/c. Errors are statistical only.

Figure 12: The K^* <p_T> as a function of dN_ch/dη compared to that of p^-, K^-, and pbar for minimum bias p+p (solid symbols) and Au+Au (open symbols) collisions. The errors shown are the quadratic sum of the statistical and systematic uncertainties.

Figure 13: The K^*/K (upper panel) and f/K^* (lower panel) yield ratios as a function of the c.m. system energies. The yield ratios for central Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=130 [35] and 200 GeV and minimum bias p+p interactions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV are compared to measurements from e⁺e^- at sqrt(s) of 10.45 GeV [48], 29 GeV [49] and 91 GeV [50,51], pbar-p at sqrt(s) of 5.6 GeV [52] and pp at sqrt(s) of 27.5 GeV [53], 52.5 GeV [54] and 63 GeV [55]. The errors at sqrt(s_NN)=130 and 200 GeV correspond to the quadratic sum of the statistical and systematic errors.

Figure 14: The K^*/K^-, f/K^- and r⁰/p^- yield ratios as a function of dN_ch/dη for Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=200 GeV. All yield ratios have been normalized to the corresponding yield ratio measured in minimum bias p+p collisions at the same c.m. system energy and indicated by the solid line. Both statistical and systematic uncertainties are shown. (Data values can be found in Table IV in the paper)

Figure 15: The K^*0 v₂ (filled stars) as a function of p_T for minimum bias Au+Au collisions compared to the K_S⁰ (open triangles), Λ (open circles), and charged hadron (open diamonds) v₂. The errors shown are statistical only.

Figure 16: The K^* R_AA (filled triangles) and R_CP (filled circles) as a function of p_T compared to the K_S⁰ (open circles) and Λ (open triangles) R_CP. The errors shown are statistical only. The dashed line represents the number of binary collisions scaling. The widths of the grey bands represent the systematic uncertainties of $R_{AA}$ (left) and R_CP (right) due to the model calculations of N_bin.