First Measurement of Λ_{c} Baryon Production in Au+Au Collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=200 GeV

We report on the first measurement of the charmed baryon Λ_{c}^{±} production at midrapidity (|y|<1) in Au+Au collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=200  GeV collected by the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The Λ_{c}/D^{0} [denoting (Λ_{c}^{+}+Λ_{c}^{-})/(D^{0}+D[over ¯]^{0})] yield ratio is measured to be 1.08±0.16  (stat)±0.26  (sys) in the 0%-20% most central Au+Au collisions for the transverse momentum (p_{T}) range 3<p_{T}<6  GeV/c. This is significantly larger than the pythia model calculations for p+p collisions. The measured Λ_{c}/D^{0} ratio, as a function of p_{T} and collision centrality, is comparable to the baryon-to-meson ratios for light and strange hadrons in Au+Au collisions. Model calculations including coalescence hadronization for charmed baryon and meson formation reproduce the features of our measured Λ_{c}/D^{0} ratio.

Total Synthesis and Antitrypanosomal Activity of Janadolide and Simplified Analogues

Janadolide is a cyclic depsipeptide natural product isolated from the marine cyanobacterium Okeania sp. Herein, we describe the total synthesis of janadolide, along with eight simplified analogues, via an efficient solid-phase strategy. Crucial to the synthesis of the natural product was the construction of a key polyketide fragment via an enantioselective (-)-B-chlorodiisopinocampheylborane-mediated reduction and a B-alkyl Suzuki reaction. Janadolide and the simplified analogues exhibited antitrypanosomal activity against pathogenic Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense and Trypanosoma cruzi parasites.

First Observation of the Directed Flow of D^{0} and D^{0}[over ¯] in Au+Au Collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=200 GeV

We report the first measurement of rapidity-odd directed flow (v_{1}) for D^{0} and D^{0}[over ¯] mesons at midrapidity (|y|<0.8) in Au+Au collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=200  GeV using the STAR detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. In 10-80% Au+Au collisions, the slope of the v_{1} rapidity dependence (dv_{1}/dy), averaged over D^{0} and D^{0}[over ¯] mesons, is -0.080±0.017(stat)±0.016(syst) for transverse momentum p_{T} above 1.5  GeV/c. The absolute value of D^{0} meson dv_{1}/dy is about 25 times larger than that for charged kaons, with 3.4σ significance. These data give a unique insight into the initial tilt of the produced matter, and offer constraints on the geometric and transport parameters of the hot QCD medium created in relativistic heavy-ion collisions.

Polarization of Λ (Λ[over ¯]) Hyperons along the Beam Direction in Au+Au Collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=200 GeV

The Λ (Λ[over ¯]) hyperon polarization along the beam direction has been measured in Au+Au collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=200  GeV, for the first time in heavy-ion collisions. The polarization dependence on the hyperons' emission angle relative to the elliptic flow plane exhibits a second harmonic sine modulation, indicating a quadrupole pattern of the vorticity component along the beam direction, expected due to elliptic flow. The polarization is found to increase in more peripheral collisions, and shows no strong transverse momentum (p_{T}) dependence at p_{T} greater than 1  GeV/c. The magnitude of the signal is about 5 times smaller than those predicted by hydrodynamic and multiphase transport models; the observed phase of the emission angle dependence is also opposite to these model predictions. In contrast, the kinematic vorticity calculations in the blast-wave model tuned to reproduce particle spectra, elliptic flow, and the azimuthal dependence of the Gaussian source radii measured with the Hanbury Brown-Twiss intensity interferometry technique reproduce well the modulation phase measured in the data and capture the centrality and transverse momentum dependence of the polarization signal.

Observation of Excess J/ψ Yield at Very Low Transverse Momenta in Au+Au Collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=200 GeV and U+U Collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=193 GeV

We report on the first measurements of J/ψ production at very low transverse momentum (p_{T}<0.2  GeV/c) in hadronic Au+Au collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=200  GeV and U+U collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=193  GeV. Remarkably, the inferred nuclear modification factor of J/ψ at midrapidity in Au+Au (U+U) collisions reaches about 24 (52) for p_{T}<0.05  GeV/c in the 60%-80% collision centrality class. This noteworthy enhancement cannot be explained by hadronic production accompanied by cold and hot medium effects. In addition, the dN/dt distribution of J/ψ for the very low p_{T} range is presented for the first time. The distribution is consistent with that expected from the Au nucleus and shows a hint of interference. Comparison of the measurements to theoretical calculations of coherent production shows that the excess yield can be described reasonably well and reveals a partial disruption of coherent production in semicentral collisions, perhaps due to the violent hadronic interactions. Incorporating theoretical calculations, the results strongly suggest that the dramatic enhancement of J/ψ yield observed at extremely low p_{T} originates from coherent photon-nucleus interactions. In particular, coherently produced J/ψ's in violent hadronic collisions may provide a novel probe of the quark-gluon plasma.

Falcipain Inhibitors Based on the Natural Product Gallinamide A Are Potent in Vitro and in Vivo Antimalarials

A library of analogues of the cyanobacterium-derived depsipeptide natural product gallinamide A were designed and prepared using a highly efficient and convergent synthetic route. Analogues were shown to exhibit potent inhibitory activity against the Plasmodium falciparum cysteine proteases falcipain 2 and falcipain 3 and against cultured chloroquine-sensitive (3D7) and chloroquine-resistant (W2) strains of P. falciparum. Three lead compounds were selected for evaluation of in vivo efficacy against Plasmodium berghei infection in mice on the basis of their improved blood, plasma, and microsomal stability profiles compared with the parent natural product. One of the lead analogues cured P. berghei-infected mice in the Peters 4 day-suppressive test when administered 25 mg kg^-1 intraperitoneally daily for 4 days. The compound was also capable of clearing parasites in established infections at 50 mg kg^-1 intraperitoneally daily for 4 days and exhibited moderate activity when administered as four oral doses of 100 mg kg^-1.

Azimuthal Harmonics in Small and Large Collision Systems at RHIC Top Energies

The first (v_{1}^{fluc}), second (v_{2}), and third (v_{3}) harmonic coefficients of the azimuthal particle distribution at midrapidity are extracted for charged hadrons and studied as a function of transverse momentum (p_{T}) and mean charged particle multiplicity density ⟨N_{ch}⟩ in U+U (sqrt[s_{NN}]=193  GeV), Au+Au, Cu+Au, Cu+Cu, d+Au, and p+Au collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=200  GeV with the STAR detector. For the same ⟨N_{ch}⟩, the v_{1}^{fluc} and v_{3} coefficients are observed to be independent of the collision system, while v_{2} exhibits such a scaling only when normalized by the initial-state eccentricity (ϵ_{2}). The data also show that ln(v_{2}/ϵ_{2}) scales linearly with ⟨N_{ch}⟩^{-1/3}. These measurements provide insight into initial-geometry fluctuations and the role of viscous hydrodynamic attenuation on v_{n} from small to large collision systems.

Erratum: Observation of D^{0} Meson Nuclear Modifications in Au+Au Collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=200 GeV [Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 142301 (2014)]

This corrects the article DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.142301.

Low-p_{T} e^{+}e^{-} Pair Production in Au+Au Collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=200 GeV and U+U Collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=193 GeV at STAR

We report first measurements of e^{+}e^{-} pair production in the mass region 0.4<M_{ee}<2.6  GeV/c^{2} at low transverse momentum (p_{T}<0.15  GeV/c) in noncentral Au+Au collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=200  GeV and U+U collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=193  GeV. Significant enhancement factors, expressed as ratios of data over known hadronic contributions, are observed in the 40%-80% centrality of these collisions. The excess yields peak distinctly at low p_{T} with a width (sqrt[⟨p_{T}^{2}⟩]) between 40 and 60  MeV/c. The absolute cross section of the excess depends weakly on centrality, while those from a theoretical model calculation incorporating an in-medium broadened ρ spectral function and radiation from a quark gluon plasma or hadronic cocktail contributions increase dramatically with an increasing number of participant nucleons. Model calculations of photon-photon interactions generated by the initial projectile and target nuclei describe the observed excess yields but fail to reproduce the p_{T}^{2} distributions.

Beam Energy Dependence of Jet-Quenching Effects in Au+Au Collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=7.7, 11.5, 14.5, 19.6, 27, 39, and 62.4 GeV

We report measurements of the nuclear modification factor R_{CP} for charged hadrons as well as identified π^{+(-)}, K^{+(-)}, and p(p[over ¯]) for Au+Au collision energies of sqrt[s_{NN}]=7.7, 11.5, 14.5, 19.6, 27, 39, and 62.4 GeV. We observe a clear high-p_{T} net suppression in central collisions at 62.4 GeV for charged hadrons which evolves smoothly to a large net enhancement at lower energies. This trend is driven by the evolution of the pion spectra but is also very similar for the kaon spectra. While the magnitude of the proton R_{CP} at high p_{T} does depend on the collision energy, neither the proton nor the antiproton R_{CP} at high p_{T} exhibit net suppression at any energy. A study of how the binary collision-scaled high-p_{T} yield evolves with centrality reveals a nonmonotonic shape that is consistent with the idea that jet quenching is increasing faster than the combined phenomena that lead to enhancement.

Beam-Energy Dependence of Directed Flow of Λ, Λ[over ¯], K^{±}, K_{s}^{0}, and ϕ in Au+Au Collisions

Rapidity-odd directed-flow measurements at midrapidity are presented for Λ, Λ[over ¯], K^{±}, K_{s}^{0}, and ϕ at sqrt[s_{NN}]=7.7, 11.5, 14.5, 19.6, 27, 39, 62.4, and 200 GeV in Au+Au collisions recorded by the Solenoidal Tracker detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. These measurements greatly expand the scope of data available to constrain models with differing prescriptions for the equation of state of quantum chromodynamics. Results show good sensitivity for testing a picture where flow is assumed to be imposed before hadron formation and the observed particles are assumed to form via coalescence of constituent quarks. The pattern of departure from a coalescence-inspired sum rule can be a valuable new tool for probing the collision dynamics.

Dijet imbalance measurements in Au+Au and pp collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=200 GeV at STAR

We report the first dijet transverse momentum asymmetry measurements from Au+Au and pp collisions at RHIC. The two highest-energy back-to-back jets reconstructed from fragments with transverse momenta above 2  GeV/c display a significantly higher momentum imbalance in heavy-ion collisions than in the pp reference. When reexamined with correlated soft particles included, we observe that these dijets then exhibit a unique new feature-momentum balance is restored to that observed in pp for a jet resolution parameter of R=0.4, while rebalancing is not attained with a smaller value of R=0.2.

Measurement of D^{0} Azimuthal Anisotropy at Midrapidity in Au+Au Collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=200 GeV

We report the first measurement of the elliptic anisotropy (v_{2}) of the charm meson D^{0} at midrapidity (|y|<1) in Au+Au collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=200  GeV. The measurement was conducted by the STAR experiment at RHIC utilizing a new high-resolution silicon tracker. The measured D^{0} v_{2} in 0%-80% centrality Au+Au collisions can be described by a viscous hydrodynamic calculation for a transverse momentum (p_{T}) of less than 4  GeV/c. The D^{0} v_{2} as a function of transverse kinetic energy (m_{T}-m_{0}, where m_{T}=sqrt[p_{T}^{2}+m_{0}^{2}]) is consistent with that of light mesons in 10%-40% centrality Au+Au collisions. These results suggest that charm quarks have achieved local thermal equilibrium with the medium created in such collisions. Several theoretical models, with the temperature-dependent, dimensionless charm spatial diffusion coefficient (2πTD_{s}) in the range of ∼2-12, are able to simultaneously reproduce our D^{0} v_{2} result and our previously published results for the D^{0} nuclear modification factor.

Charge-Dependent Directed Flow in Cu+Au Collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=200 GeV

We present the first measurement of charge-dependent directed flow in Cu+Au collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=200  GeV. The results are presented as a function of the particle transverse momentum and pseudorapidity for different centralities. A finite difference between the directed flow of positive and negative charged particles is observed that qualitatively agrees with the expectations from the effects of the initial strong electric field between two colliding ions with different nuclear charges. The measured difference in directed flow is much smaller than that obtained from the parton-hadron-string-dynamics model, which suggests that most of the electric charges, i.e., quarks and antiquarks, have not yet been created during the lifetime of the strong electric field, which is of the order of, or less than, 1  fm/c.

Measurement of the Transverse Single-Spin Asymmetry in p^{↑}+p→W^{±}/Z^{0} at RHIC

We present the measurement of the transverse single-spin asymmetry of weak boson production in transversely polarized proton-proton collisions at sqrt[s]=500  GeV by the STAR experiment at RHIC. The measured observable is sensitive to the Sivers function, one of the transverse-momentum-dependent parton distribution functions, which is predicted to have the opposite sign in proton-proton collisions from that observed in deep inelastic lepton-proton scattering. These data provide the first experimental investigation of the nonuniversality of the Sivers function, fundamental to our understanding of QCD.

Beam Energy Dependence of the Third Harmonic of Azimuthal Correlations in Au+Au Collisions at RHIC

We present results from a harmonic decomposition of two-particle azimuthal correlations measured with the STAR detector in Au+Au collisions for energies ranging from sqrt[s_{NN}]=7.7 to 200 GeV. The third harmonic v_{3}^{2}{2}=⟨cos3(ϕ_{1}-ϕ_{2})⟩, where ϕ_{1}-ϕ_{2} is the angular difference in azimuth, is studied as a function of the pseudorapidity difference between particle pairs Δη=η_{1}-η_{2}. Nonzero v_{3}^{2}{2} is directly related to the previously observed large-Δη narrow-Δϕ ridge correlations and has been shown in models to be sensitive to the existence of a low viscosity quark gluon plasma phase. For sufficiently central collisions, v_{3}^{2}{2} persist down to an energy of 7.7 GeV, suggesting that quark gluon plasma may be created even in these low energy collisions. In peripheral collisions at these low energies, however, v_{3}^{2}{2} is consistent with zero. When scaled by the pseudorapidity density of charged-particle multiplicity per participating nucleon pair, v_{3}^{2}{2} for central collisions shows a minimum near sqrt[s_{NN}]=20  GeV.

Centrality and Transverse Momentum Dependence of Elliptic Flow of Multistrange Hadrons and ϕ Meson in Au+Au Collisions at √[sNN]=200 GeV

We present high precision measurements of elliptic flow near midrapidity (|y|<1.0) for multistrange hadrons and ϕ meson as a function of centrality and transverse momentum in Au+Au collisions at center of mass energy √[sNN]=200  GeV. We observe that the transverse momentum dependence of ϕ and Ω v2 is similar to that of π and p, respectively, which may indicate that the heavier strange quark flows as strongly as the lighter up and down quarks. This observation constitutes a clear piece of evidence for the development of partonic collectivity in heavy-ion collisions at the top RHIC energy. Number of constituent quark scaling is found to hold within statistical uncertainty for both 0%-30% and 30%-80% collision centrality. There is an indication of the breakdown of previously observed mass ordering between ϕ and proton v2 at low transverse momentum in the 0%-30% centrality range, possibly indicating late hadronic interactions affecting the proton v2.

Observation of Transverse Spin-Dependent Azimuthal Correlations of Charged Pion Pairs in p^{↑}+p at sqrt[s]=200 GeV

We report the observation of transverse polarization-dependent azimuthal correlations in charged pion pair production with the STAR experiment in p^{↑}+p collisions at RHIC. These correlations directly probe quark transversity distributions. We measure signals in excess of 5 standard deviations at high transverse momenta, at high pseudorapidities η>0.5, and for pair masses around the mass of the ρ meson. This is the first direct transversity measurement in p+p collisions.

Azimuthal Anisotropy in U+U and Au+Au Collisions at RHIC

Collisions between prolate uranium nuclei are used to study how particle production and azimuthal anisotropies depend on initial geometry in heavy-ion collisions. We report the two- and four-particle cumulants, v_{2}{2} and v_{2}{4}, for charged hadrons from U+U collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=193  GeV and Au+Au collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=200  GeV. Nearly fully overlapping collisions are selected based on the energy deposited by spectators in zero degree calorimeters (ZDCs). Within this sample, the observed dependence of v_{2}{2} on multiplicity demonstrates that ZDC information combined with multiplicity can preferentially select different overlap configurations in U+U collisions. We also show that v_{2} vs multiplicity can be better described by models, such as gluon saturation or quark participant models, that eliminate the dependence of the multiplicity on the number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions.

Precision Measurement of the Longitudinal Double-Spin Asymmetry for Inclusive Jet Production in Polarized Proton Collisions at sqrt[s]=200 GeV

We report a new measurement of the midrapidity inclusive jet longitudinal double-spin asymmetry, A_{LL}, in polarized pp collisions at center-of-mass energy sqrt[s]=200  GeV. The STAR data place stringent constraints on polarized parton distribution functions extracted at next-to-leading order from global analyses of inclusive deep-inelastic scattering (DIS), semi-inclusive DIS, and RHIC pp data. The measured asymmetries provide evidence at the 3σ level for positive gluon polarization in the Bjorken-x region x>0.05.

ΛΛ Correlation function in Au+Au collisions at √[S(NN)]=200 GeV

We present ΛΛ correlation measurements in heavy-ion collisions for Au+Au collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=200  GeV using the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider. The Lednický-Lyuboshitz analytical model has been used to fit the data to obtain a source size, a scattering length and an effective range. Implications of the measurement of the ΛΛ correlation function and interaction parameters for dihyperon searches are discussed.

Observation of D0 meson nuclear modifications in Au+Au collisions at sqrt[s(NN)] = 200 GeV

We report the first measurement of charmed-hadron (D(0)) production via the hadronic decay channel (D(0) → K(-) + π(+)) in Au+Au collisions at sqrt[s(NN)] = 200 GeV with the STAR experiment. The charm production cross section per nucleon-nucleon collision at midrapidity scales with the number of binary collisions, N(bin), from p+p to central Au+Au collisions. The D(0) meson yields in central Au + Au collisions are strongly suppressed compared to those in p+p scaled by N(bin), for transverse momenta p(T) > 3 GeV/c, demonstrating significant energy loss of charm quarks in the hot and dense medium. An enhancement at intermediate p(T) is also observed. Model calculations including strong charm-medium interactions and coalescence hadronization describe our measurements.

Beam energy dependence of moments of the net-charge multiplicity distributions in Au+Au collisions at RHIC

We report the first measurements of the moments--mean (M), variance (σ(2)), skewness (S), and kurtosis (κ)--of the net-charge multiplicity distributions at midrapidity in Au+Au collisions at seven energies, ranging from sqrt[sNN]=7.7 to 200 GeV, as a part of the Beam Energy Scan program at RHIC. The moments are related to the thermodynamic susceptibilities of net charge, and are sensitive to the location of the QCD critical point. We compare the products of the moments, σ(2)/M, Sσ, and κσ(2), with the expectations from Poisson and negative binomial distributions (NBDs). The Sσ values deviate from the Poisson baseline and are close to the NBD baseline, while the κσ(2) values tend to lie between the two. Within the present uncertainties, our data do not show nonmonotonic behavior as a function of collision energy. These measurements provide a valuable tool to extract the freeze-out parameters in heavy-ion collisions by comparing with theoretical models.

Measurement of longitudinal spin asymmetries for weak boson production in polarized proton-proton collisions at RHIC

We report measurements of single- and double-spin asymmetries for W^{±} and Z/γ^{*} boson production in longitudinally polarized p+p collisions at sqrt[s]=510  GeV by the STAR experiment at RHIC. The asymmetries for W^{±} were measured as a function of the decay lepton pseudorapidity, which provides a theoretically clean probe of the proton's polarized quark distributions at the scale of the W mass. The results are compared to theoretical predictions, constrained by polarized deep inelastic scattering measurements, and show a preference for a sizable, positive up antiquark polarization in the range 0.05<x<0.2.