Generating Monte Carlo Data to Study π0 Production in p+p Collisions at RHIC

Primary Submission Contact

J.D. Snaidauf

Faculty Sponsor

Shirvel Stanislaus

Faculty Sponsor Email Address

shirvel.stanislaus@valpo.edu

College

Arts and Sciences

Department/Program

Department of Physics and Astronomy

Document Type

Poster Presentation

Date

Fall 10-26-2018

Abstract

The Solenoidal Tracker at RHIC (STAR) experiment based at Brookhaven National Lab uses collisions of polarized protons to study, among other things, the contributions of gluons to the spin of the proton. The STAR detector's Endcap Electromagnetic Calorimeter (EEMC), located in the pseudorapidity range 1 < η < 2, is sensitive to gluons carrying a low fraction of the proton momentum (x ~< 0.05), where the gluon spin contribution is still relatively poorly constrained. The gluon contribution can be determined by studying the π0 production from p+p collisions with different orientations of the spins of the colliding protons. π0 ’s are reconstructed using the energy deposited by the decay photons in the EEMC. Signal and background contributions can be separated using Monte Carlo simulated data. Monte Carlo data with a high tower trigger in the EEMC will be generated using Pythia and Geant software packages, with and without the addition of randomly triggered, "zero bias", events from STAR data. π0 ’s reconstructed from these two Monte Carlo data sets will be compared to each other and with data taken in 2012 (510 GeV/c2 pp center-of-mass energy).

Biographical Information about Author(s)

As an aspiring educator in physics, I intend to use my knowledge in research to enhance students' experiences.

Additional Presentation Information

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