Scaling Properties of φ -Meson and Light Charged Hadron Production in Small and Large Systems at PHENIX
Recent results on the identified charged-hadron (π ± , K ± , p, p¯) production vat midrapidity region (|η| < 0.35) have been measured by the PHENIX experiment in p + Al, 3 He + Au, Cu + Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV and U + U collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 193 GeV. These measurements are presented through the invariant transverse-momentum (p T ) and transverse-mass (m T ) spectra for different collision centralities. The averaged freeze-out temperature value for different systems was found to be 166.1 ± 2.2 MeV, and do not exhibit any dependence on the collision centrality and $\langle$N parti $\rangle$ values. The particle ratios of K/π and p/π have been measured in different centrality ranges of large and small collision systems. The values of K/π ratios measured in all considered collision systems were found to be consistent with those measured in p+p collisions. Furthermore, the identified charged-hadron nuclear-modification factors (R AB ) are also presented. Enhancement of proton R AB values over meson R AB values was observed in central 3 He+Au, Cu+Au, and U+U collisions. The proton R AB values measured in p+Al collision system were found to be consistent with R AB values of Φ, π ± , K ± , and π 0 mesons, suggesting that the size of the system produced in p+Al collisions is too small for recombination to cause a noticeable increase in proton production.