Oak Ridge National Laboratory
High-Energy Reactions Group

General Information


Goals and Agenda

The focus of this research effort is the possible production in the laboratory of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) and the study of its characteristics. This phase of matter, in which quarks and gluons are deconfined, is predicted to occur at sufficiently high energy densities. Collisions between nuclei at very high energies may provide the means by which these energy densities can be attained. Our recently concluded research made use of nuclei at the highest energies available (square root{s}=17·A GeV 208Pb+208Pb) at the SPS at CERN, and our present experiments use the PHENIX detector, one of the two major experiments operating at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at BNL, which enables us to access even higher energy regimes, currently up to square root{s}=130·A GeV for 197Au+197Au. This field of research is recognized by the nuclear physics community and by the Department of Energy as a high-priority area in one of the emerging directions of nuclear science. Our approach to the problem is characterized by two main goals: (1) the desire to obtain an in-depth systematic understanding of the global characteristics of the appropriate underlying nucleus-nucleus and hadron-nucleus reactions and (2) the exploitation of highly-penetrating or noninteracting probes, such as lepton pairs, photons, and jets to study both the possible formation and the properties of the QGP.

Accomplishments  /   Highlights

Writeup to be provided by Glenn.

Biographical Data

TERRY C. AWES — Senior Staff Scientist, ORNL (1997-present); Staff Scientist, ORNL (1984-1997); Research Guest, CERN (1986, 1989-90, 1991, 1993-94, 1995-97); Postdoctoral Research Associate, ORNL (1981-84); Ph.D. in Nuclear Physics, Michigan State U. (1981); B.S. in Physics, Mathematics and Computer Science (special honors), U. Wisconsin (1977). Appointments: Organizing Committee, QM'91; MSU-NSCL Executive Committee 1988-91. Honors: Alexander von Humboldt Fellowships 1991 and 1993; Anderson Foundation Scholarship

VINCENT CIANCIOLO — Staff Scientist, ORNL (1997-present); Postdoctoral Associate, LLNL (1995-1996); Postdoctoral Associate, MIT (1994); Ph.D. in Physics, MIT (1994); B.S. (Honors) in Physics, U. Michigan (1988)

FRANZ PLASIL — Corporate Research Fellow (1999-present); Senior Staff Scientist, ORNL (1980-1999); Section Head, Physics Division (1986-1999); Group Leader, Physics Division (1978-86); Staff Scientist, ORNL (1967-80); Senior Staff Member, IPN, Orsay, France (1974-75); Research Associate, BNL, 1965-67; Chemist, LBL, 1964-65; Research Assistant, LBL (1961-65); Ph.D. in Nuclear Chemistry, U. California, Berkley (1964); B.S. (Honors) in Chemistry, U. London (1960). Research activities: studies of charged-particle and heavy-ion-induced fission (1964-1983), studies of heavy-ion-induced reactions at low energies (1972-1985), studies of heavy-ion reactions at ultrarelativistic energies (1983-present). Appointments: Bevalac PAC 1989-92; PRC Editorial Board 1986-88; APS/DNP Program Committee 1982-84; Executive Committee LBL SuperHILAC Association 1974-79 (Chairman 1977 and 1979); Chairman Organizing Committee QM'91 and Gordon Research Conference on Nuclear Chemistry 1978. Advisory Committee: QM Conferences 1986, 1990, 1993, 1995 and Nucleus-Nucleus Conferences 1988, 1991, 1994. Honors: Senior Alexander von Homboldt Award (1984); E. Mach Medal of Honor of the Academy of Science of the Czech Republic (1998); Fellow, APS. Coauthor of over 250 scientific publications.

KENNETH F. READ — Staff Scientist, ORNL (1991-present); Collaborating Scientist, ORNL/U.Tennessee (1993-present); Associate Professor, U.Tennessee (1999-present); Assistant Professor, U.Tennessee (1991-99); Research Staff Member, Princeton (1990); Research Associate, Princeton (1987-90); Ph.D. in Physics, Cornell (1987); M.S. in Physics, Cornell (1984); NSF Graduate Fellow; B.S. with Distinction and Honors in Physics, Stanford (1981). Honors: National Merit Scholarship, Stanford's David Levine Award, Cornell Andrew D. White Fellowship, Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi

SOREN P. SORENSEN — Adjunct Research Associate, ORNL (1985-present); Professor, U. Tennessee (1994-present); Associate Professor, U. Tennessee (1989-1994); Assistant Professor, U. Tennessee (1984-89); Research Guest, CERN (1986-87); Research Associate, Niels Bohr Institute (1981-84); Ph.D. in Physics, U. Copenhagen (1981)

PAUL W. STANKUS — Staff Scientist, ORNL (1997-present); Postdoctoral Research Associate, ORNL (1993-1996); Ph.D. in Physics, Columbia U. (1993); M.Phil. in Physics, Columbia U. (1988); M.A. in Physics, Columbia U. (1986); Undergraduate Fellowship, Cal Tech; B.S. in Physics, Cal Tech (1985)

GLENN R. YOUNG — Senior Staff Scientist, ORNL (1990-present); Program Head, High-Energy Reactions Program (1999-present); Group Leader, Physics Division (1986-1999); Deputy Project Director, PHENIX (1992-1995); Deputy Spokesman, PHENIX (1995-present); Staff Scientist, ORNL (1980-86); Wigner Fellow, ORNL (1978-80); Weizmann Fellow, MIT (1977-78); Ph.D. in Physics, MIT (1977); NSF Predoctoral Fellow, MIT (1973-76); B.A. (Honors) in Physics and Mathematics, U. Tennessee (1973); National Merit Scholarship, Sigma Xi; Phi Beta Kappa. DNP Program Committee (1985-86). Member NSAC (1986-89). Bevalac PAC (1986-88); MSU NSCL PAC (1986-92); CEBAF PAC (1994-1998); RHIC/AGS PAC (1999-present); Organizing Committee QM (1988 and 1991); Int. Advisory Committee QM 2001; NSAC Long Range Plan (Boulder, 1989, Pasadena, 1995); PRC Editorial Board (1988-90); PRL Editorial Board (1994-1996); AGS Users Executive Committee (1991-93). Fellow, APS. Research interests: high-Q2 physics using PHENIX at RHIC.


Publications and Invited Presentations // 1996-2000

1996

  1. Albrecht, R., et al.
    "Limits on the Production of Direct Photons in 200 A GeV 32S+Au Collisions," Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 3506-09 (May 1996)
  2. Awes, T. C., et al.
    "Azimuthal Correlations in the Target Fragmentation Region of High-Energy Nuclear Collisions," Phys. Lett. B 381, 29-34 (July 1996)
  3. Britton, C. L., Jr., et al.
    "Low Noise, Low Power Dissipation Analog LSI Electronics for Heavy Ion Detectors," Proceedings, 1996 International Symposium on Circuits and Systems, Atlanta, Ga., May 12- 15, 1996, CD-ROM, ISBN 0-7803-3363-2, 1996
  4. Britton, C. L., Jr., et al.
    "Multiplicity-Vertex Detector Electronics Development for Heavy-Ion Detectors," pp. 84- 87 in Proceedings, First Workshop on Electronics for LHC Experiments, Lisbon, Portugal, Sept. 11-15, 1995, published 1996
  5. Britton, C. L., Jr., et al.
    "A Radiation-Hard Analog Memory in the AVLSI-RA Process," pp. 52-56 in Proceedings, First Workshop on Electronics for LHC Experiments, Lisbon, Portugal, Sept. 11-15, 1995, published 1996
  6. Britton, C. L., Jr., et al.
    "Post-Radiation Memory Correction Using Differential Subtraction for PHENIX," Proceedings, IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium, San Francisco, Calif., Oct. 23-27, 1995, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. 43, 1564-69 (June 1996)
  7. Ericson, M. N., et al.
    "A Flexible Analog Memory Address List Manager for PHENIX," Proceedings, 1995 Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference, San Francisco,Calif., Oct. 21-28, 1995, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. 43, 1629-33, (June 1996)
  8. Peitzmann, T., et al., for the WA98 Collaboration (Invited Presentation)
    "Photon and Neutral Meson Production in 158 A GeV 208Pb+Pb Collisions," Proceedings, Quark Matter '96, Heidelberg, Germany, May 20-24, 1996, Nucl. Phys. A 610, 200c-12c (1996)
  9. Plasil, F. (Invited Presentation)
    "Measurement of Direct Photons in 200 A GeV 32S + Au Collisions," pp. 365-72 in Advances in Nuclear Dynamics 2 (Proceedings, Twelfth Winter Workshop on Nuclear Dynamics, Snowbird, Utah, Feb. 3-10, 1996), Plenum Press, New York, 1996
  10. Simpson, M. L., G. R. Young, R. G. Jackson, and M. Xu
    "A Monolithic, Constant-Fraction Discriminator Using Distributed R-C Delay Line Shaping," Proceedings, 1995 Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference, San Francisco,Calif., Oct. 21-28, 1995, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. 43, 1695-99, (June 1996)
  11. Srivastava, D. K., B. Sinha, and T. C. Awes
    "Photon Pairs from Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions and the Quark Hadron Phase Transition," Phys. Lett. B 387, 21-25 (Oct. 1996)
  12. Wintenberg, A. L., et al.
    "Monolithic Circuits for the WA98 Lead Glass Calorimeter," pp. 493-97 in Proceedings, IEEE 1994 Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference, Norfolk , Vir., Oct. 30, 1994, Conference Record of the IEEE Symposium, Vol. 1, IEEE, 1996
  13. Young, G. R. (Invited Presentation)
    "Physics and Experiments at RHIC," pp. 698-711 in Proceedings, International Nuclear Physics Conference (INPC '95), Beijing, China, Aug. 21-26, 1996, World Scientific Publishing, Singapore, 1996

1997

  1. Aggarwal, M. M., et al.
    "Soft Photon Production in Central 200-GeV/Nucleon 32S + Au Collisions," Phys. Rev. C 56, 1160-63 (Aug. 1997)
  2. Aggarwal, M. M., et al.
    "Azimuthal Anisotropy in S + Au Reactions at 200 A GeV," Phys. Lett. B 403, 390-96 (June 1997)
  3. Aggarwal, M. M., et al.
    "Event by Event Measurement of <pT> of Photons in S + Au Collisions at 200 A GeV," Phys. Lett. B 404, 207-12 (July 1997)
  4. Britton, Jr., et al.
    "Design and Performance of Beam Test Electronics for the PHENIX Multiplicity Vertex Detector," IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. 44, No. 3, 283-88 (June 1997)
  5. Ericson, M. N., et al.
    "Development of Front End Controller/HEAP Manager for PHENIX," Proceedings, 1996 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium, Anaheim. Calif., Nov. 4-8, 1996, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. 44, 312-17 (June 1997)
  6. Jackson, R. G., T. V. Blalock, M. L. Simpson, A. L. Wintenberg, and G. R. Young
    "Integrated Constant-Fraction Discriminator Shaping Techniques for the PHENIX Lead-Scintillator Calorimeters," Proceedings, 1996 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium, Anaheim. Calif., Nov. 4-8, 1996, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. 44, 303-07 (June 1997)
  7. Kampert, K. H., et al.
    "Comment on 'Search for Direct Photons from S-Au Collisions at 200 GeV/Nucleon' by the CERES Collaboration," Z. Phys. C 74, 587-91 (1997)
  8. Plasil, F. (Invited Presentation)
    "Measurement of Direct Photons in CERN Experiments WA80 / WA98," pp. 369-78 in Structure of Vacuum and Elementary Matter (Proceedings, International Conference on Nuclear Physics at the Turn of the Millennium, Wilderness/George, South Africa, Mar. 10-16, 1996), World Scientific Publishing, Singapore, 1997
  9. Simpson, M. L., C. L. Britton, A. L. Wintenberg, and G. R. Young
    "An Integrated CMOS Time-Interval Measurement System with Subnanosecond Resolution for the WA98 Calorimeter," IEEE J. Solid State Circuits 32, 198-205 (Feb. 1997)
  10. Smith, R. S., et al.
    "A Discriminator with a Current-Sum Multiplicity Output for the PHENIX Multiplicity Vertex Detector," Proceedings, 1996 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium, Anaheim, Calif., Nov. 4-8, 1996, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. 44, 389-92 (June 1997)
  11. Stankus, P. W. (For the WA98 Collaboration) (Invited Presentation)
    "Recent Results from CERN WA98," pp. 35-44 in Proceedings, Thirteenth Winter Workshop on Nuclear Dynamics, Marathon, Fla., Feb. 1-8, 1997, Plenum Press, New York, 1997
  12. Wintenberg, A. L., et al.
    "A CMOS Variable Gain Amplifier for PHENIX Electromagnetic Calorimeter and RICH Energy Measurements," Proceedings, 1996 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium, Anaheim, Calif., Nov. 4-8, 1996, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. 44, 326-30 (June 1997)

1998

  1. Aggarwal, M. M., et al.
    "Search for Disoriented Chiral Condensates in 158 A GeV Pb+Pb Collisions," Phys. Lett. B 420, 169-79 (Feb. 1998)
  2. Aggarwal, M. M., et al.
    "Multiplicity and Pseudorapidity Distribution of Photons in S + Au Reaction at 200 A GeV," Phys. Rev. C 58, 1146-54 (Aug. 1998)
  3. Aggarwal, M. M., et al.
    "Centrality Dependence of Neutral Pion Production in 158 A GeV 208Pb+208Pb Collisions," Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 4087-91 (Nov. 1998)
  4. Albrecht, R., et al.
    "Transverse Momentum Distributions of Neutral Pions from Nuclear Collisions at 200 A GeV," European Phys. J. C 5, 255-67 (Aug. 1998)
  5. Awes, T. C. (For the WA98 Collaboration) (Invited Presentation)
    "Collective Flow as a Probe of Heavy-Ion Reaction Dynamics," Proceedings, Sixth International Conference on Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions, Gatlinburg, Tenn., June 2-6, 1997, Nucl. Phys. A 630, 499c-510c (Feb. 1998)
  6. Awes, T. C. (Invited Presentation) (For the WA98 Collaboration)
    "Electromagnetic Signatures of QGP (Photons): Experimental Status," pp. 111-19 in Proceedings, International Conference on Physics and Astrophysics of Quark Gluon Plasma, Jaipur, India, Mar. 17-21, 1997, Narosa Publishing House, New Delhi, India, 1998
  7. Bryan, W. L., et al.
    "TGLD: A 16-Channel Charge Readout Chip for the PHENIX Pad Chamber Detector Subsystem at RHIC," IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference, Albuquerque, N.M., Nov. 9-13, 1997, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. 45, 754-57 (June 1998)
  8. Bugg, W., et al.
    "ORLANDO -- Oak Ridge Large Neutrino Detector," Proceedings, 5th International Workshop on Topics in Astroparticle and Underground Physics (TAUP 97), Assergi, Italy, Sept. 7-11, 1997, Nucl. Phys. B (Proc. Suppl.) 70, 472-74 (1998)
  9. Ericson, M. N., et al. (Invited Presentation)
    "Front-End Module Readout and Control Electronics for the PHENIX Multiplicity Detector," Proceedings, IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference, Albuquerque, N.M., Nov. 9-13, 1997, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. 45, 833-37 (June 1998)
  10. Hawker, E. A., et al.
    "Measurement of the Light Antiquark Flavor Asymmetry in the Nucleon Sea," Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 3715 18 (Apr. 1998)
  11. Morrison, D. P. (For the PHENIX Collaboration)
    "The PHENIX Experiment at RHIC," Proceedings, 13th International Conference on Ultrarelativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions (Quark Matter '97), Tsukuba, Japan, Dec. 1-5, 1997, Nucl. Phys. A 638, 565c-69c (1998)
  12. Nayak, T. K. (Invited Presentation) (For the WA98 Collaboration)
    "Search for Disoriented Chiral Condensates: An Experimental Perspective," pp. 167-80 in Proceedings, International Conference on Physics and Astrophysics of Quark Gluon Plasma, Jaipur, India, Mar. 17-21, 1997, Narosa Publishing House, New Delhi, India,1998
  13. Nayak, T. K. (For the WA98 Collaboration)
    "Present Status and Future of DCC Analysis," Proceedings, 13th International Conference on Ultrarelativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions (Quark Matter '97), Tsukuba, Japan, Dec. 1-5, 1997, Nucl. Phys. A 638, 249c-60c (1998)
  14. Peng, J. C., et al.
    "d(overbar)/u(overbar) Asymmetry and the Origin of the Nucleon Sea," Phys. Rev. D 58, 2004-08 (Nov. 1998)
  15. Plasil, F. (Invited Presentation)
    "High Energy Nuclear Collisions," pp. 166-175 in Proceedings, International Europhysics Conference on High Energy Physics, Jerusalem, Israel, Aug. 19-26, 1997, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1998
  16. Plasil, F. (For the WA80 and WA98 Collaborations) (Invited Presentation)
    "Neutral Pion Production in Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions at 158 and 200 GeV/Nucleon," pp. 247-53 in Advances in Nuclear Dynamics 4 (Proceedings, 14th Winter Workshop on Nuclear Dynamics, Snowbird, Utah, Feb. 1-7, 1998), Plenum Press, New York, 1998
  17. Saito, N.  (For the PHENIX Collaboration)
    "Spin Physics with the PHENIX Detector System," Proceedings, 13th International Conference on Ultrarelativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions (Quark Matter '97), Tsukuba, Japan, Dec. 1-5, 1997, Nucl. Phys. A 638, 575c-78c (1998)
  18. Wintenberg, A. L., et al.
    "A CMOS Integrating Amplifier for the PHENIX Ring Imaging Cherenkov Detector," IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference, Albuquerque, N.M., Nov. 9-13, 1997, IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. 45, 758-63 (June 1998)
  19. Wysloch, B. (For the WA98 Collaboration)
    "Recent Results on Pb+Pb Collisions at 158 GeV from the WA98 Experiment at CERN," Proceedings, 13th International Conference on Ultrarelativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions (Quark Matter '97), Tsukuba, Japan, Dec. 1-5, 1997, Nucl. Phys. A 638, 147c-58c (1998)

1999

  1. Aggarwal, M. M., et al.
    "Systematics of Inclusive Photon Production in 158-A GeV Pb Induced Reactions on Ni, Nb, and Pb Targets," Phys. Lett. B 458, 422-30 (July 1999)
  2. Aggarwal, M. M., et al.
    "Freeze-Out Parameters in Central 158-A GeV 208Pb+208Pb Collisions," Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 926-30 (Aug. 1999)
  3. Aggarwal, M. M. , et al.
    "Elliptic Emission of K+ and p+ in 158-A GeV Pb+Pb Collisions," Phys. Lett. B 469, 30-36 (Dec. 1999)
  4. Akiba, Y., et al.
    "Ring-Imaging Cerenkov Detector of PHENIX Experiment at RHIC," Proceedings, 3rd International Workshop on Ring-Imaging Cerenkov Detectors, Nov 15-20, 1998, Dead Sea, Israel, Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A 433, 143-48 (1999)
  5. Awes, T. C., for the WA98 Collaboration (Invited Presentation)
    "Particle Production in 158 A GeV 208Pb+208Pb," pp. 21-32 in Advances in Nuclear Dynamics 5 (Proceedings, Winter Workshop on Nuclear Dynamics, Park City, Utah, Jan. 9-16, 1999), Plenum Publishers, New York, 1999
  6. Britton, C. L., et al.
    "A 32-Channel Preamplifier Chip for the Multiplicity Vertex Detector at PHENIX," Rev. Sci. Instrum. 70, 1684-87 (Mar. 1999)
  7. Chemakin, I., et al.
    "Measuring Centrality with Slow Protons in Proton-Nucleus Collisions at 18 GeV/c," Phys. Rev. C 60, 4902 (Aug. 1999)
  8. Gagliardi, C. A., et al. (E866 Collaboration)
    "d(overbar)/u(overbar) Asymmetry in the Nucleon Sea," pp. 487c-92c in Proceedings, International Nuclear Physics Conference (INPC '98) Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1999
  9. Lee, W. M., et al. (E866 Collaboration)
    "Nuclear Dependence of J/y and y' Production," pp. 623c-26c in Proceedings, International Nuclear Physics Conference (INPC '98), Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1999
  10. Nilsson, P. B. , for the PHENIX Pad Chamber Group
    "The Pixel Readout System for the PHENIX Pad Chambers," Proceedings, 14th International Conference on Ultra-Relativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions (Quark Matter '99), Torino, Italy, May 10-15, 1999, Nucl. Phys. A661, 665c-68c (1999)
  11. Read, K. F. (Invited Presentation) for the PHENIX Collaboration
    "The PHENIX Experiment ," pp. 91-99 in Advances in Nuclear Dynamics 5 (Proceedings, Winter Workshop on Nuclear Dynamics, Park City, Utah, Jan. 9-16, 1999), Plenum Publishers, New York, 1999
  12. Vasiliev, M. A., et al. (E866 Collaboration)
    "Parton Energy Loss Limits and Shadowing in Drell-Yan Dimuon Production," Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 2304-07 (Sept. 1999)

2000   (through August)

  1. Aggarwal, M. M., et al.
    Erratum: "Centrality Dependence of Neutral Pion Production in 158 A GeV 208Pb+208Pb Collisions" [Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 4087 (Nov. 1998)]; Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 578-79 (Jan. 2000)
  2. Aggarwal, M. M., et al.
    "D++ Production in 158 A GeV 208Pb+208Pb Interactions at the CERN SPS," Phys. Lett. B 377, 37-44 (Mar. 2000)
  3. Gagliardi, C. A., et al. (E866 Collaboration)
    "Light Antiquark Flavor Asymmetry in the Nucleon Sea," Proceedings, 15th International Conference on Particles and Nuclei, Uppsala, Sweden, June 10-16, 1999, Nucl. Phys. A 663-664, 284-87 (Jan. 2000)
  4. Tribble, R. E., et al. (E866 Collaboraton)
    "Nuclear Dependence of Drell-Yan and J/y Production in FNAL E866," Proceedings, 15th International Conference on Particles and Nuclei, Uppsala, Sweden, June 10-16, 1999, Nucl. Phys. A 663-664, 761 64 (Jan. 2000)

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Rev:  Tuesday, 26-Sept-2000 16:00 EDT