Abstract
Considerable efforts are currently being invested in the study of high-energy heavy-ion collisions. The main goals of this experimental programme are the discovery of the phase transition from confined hadronic matter to deconfined partonic matter, predicted by lattice QCD calculations to occur when the system reaches sufficiently high energy densities or temperatures [1] and the study of the physical properties of the new phase. Both goals are fundamental for the understanding of confinement, a crucial feature of QCD.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
F. Karsch: Lattice QCD at High Temperature and Density, Lecture Notes in Physics 583, 209 (2002)
T. Matsui and H. Satz: Phys. Lett. B178, 416 (1986)
J. Buytaert et al.: The NA60 Silicon Tracking Telescope for Proton Running, NA60 Note 2001–5, Jul 2001
A. David: PhD Thesis, IST, Lisbon, Portugal (2006)
A. David: Commissioning of NA60’s Silicon Micro-Strip Telescope Readout Chain, NA60 Note 2002–2, Mar 2002
A. David et al. [NA60 Collaboration]: Nucl. Instrum. Methods A509, 118 (2003)
C. Lourenço: Measuring Absolute Production Cross Sections from the Proton-Nucleus Data Collected by NA60, NA60 Note 2007–1, Apr 2007
H.K. Wöhri: PhD Thesis, TU Wien, Vienna, Austria (2004)
R. Shahoyan et al. [NA60 Collaboration]: Eur. Phys. J. C43, 209 (2005)
R. Shahoyan et al. [NA60 Collaboration]: Nucl. Phys. A774, 677 (2006)
C. Lourenço: PhD Thesis, IST, Lisbon, Portugal (1995)
M.C. Abreu et al. [NA50 Collaboration]: Eur. Phys. J. C14, 443 (2000)
The atomic weights and the densities were taken from the Particle Data Group tables (http://pdg.lbl.gov/2006/AtomicNuclearProperties/index.html). The interaction lengths were calculated by the expression \(\lambda_{\mathrm{int},\mathrm{A}} \frac{\mathrm{A}}{\sigma_{\mathrm{inel},\mathrm{p}-\mathrm{A}} \cdot N_{\mathrm{Av} \cdot \rho}}\), where \(\sigma_{\mathrm{inel,p}-\mathrm{A}} = \sigma_{0} \cdot \mathrm{A}^{\alpha}\), with \(\sigma_{0} = 38.53 \pm 1.10\,\mathrm{mb}\) and \(\alpha = 0.719; \pm 0.007\) see Appendix C of G. Borges, PhD Thesis, IST, Lisbon, Portugal (2005)
B. Alessandro et al. [NA50 Collaboration]: Eur. Phys. J. C48, 329 (2006)
H. Santos: PhD Thesis, IST, Lisbon, Portugal (2004)
T. Sjöstrand et al.: Comp. Phys. Comm. 135, 238 (2001)
K.J. Eskola et al.: Eur. Phys. J. C9, 61 (1999)
H. Sako [CERES Collaboration]: GSI Tech. Report 03–24
R. Brun et al. [Geant, version 3.21]: CERN DD/EE/84–1
S. Eidelman et al. [Particle Data Group]: Phys. Lett. B592, 1 (2004)
Acknowledgments
The work described in this chapter is based on the PhD thesis of H.K.W¨ohri, made possible thanks to the financial support of the Austrian government (Bundesministerium f¨ur Bildung, Wissenschaft und Kultur), of CERN, and of CFIF/IST-Lisbon (scholarship from Funda~ ̃ao para a Ci^encia e a Tecnologia, Portugal, contract POCTI/FP/FNU/50173/2003). We acknowledge useful discussions with many NA60 collaborators.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lourenço, C., Wöhri, H.K. (2009). Measuring Dimuons Produced in Proton–Nucleus Collisions with the NA60 Experiment at the SPS. In: Sarkar, S., Satz, H., Sinha, B. (eds) The Physics of the Quark-Gluon Plasma. Lecture Notes in Physics, vol 785. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-02286-9_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-02286-9_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-02285-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-02286-9
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)