Speaker
Description
Short-lived resonances such as $K^{*0}$ serve as sensitive probes of the hadronic phase in relativistic heavy-ion collisions, as their yields can be significantly modified by in-medium rescattering and regeneration. At lower collision energies ($\sqrt{s_{NN}} \sim 3\text{-}5$ GeV), the extracted chemical and kinetic freeze-out temperatures are found to be closer to each other, potentially modifying the effects of resonance rescattering and regeneration during the hadronic phase compared to that at higher energies [1]. The STAR experiment at RHIC has recorded a high-statistics dataset ($\sim 2$ billion minimum-bias Au+Au collisions) at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 3$ GeV using the Fixed-Target (FXT) configuration. This dataset provides a unique opportunity to study $K^{*0}$ production at low collision energies.
In this presentation, we report measurements of $K^{*0}$ meson production in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 3$ GeV using STAR data collected in 2021. The results include transverse momentum ($p_T$) spectra, rapidity density ($dN/dy$), and mean transverse momentum ($\langle p_T \rangle$). In addition, the $K^{*0}/K$ ratio is studied as a function of multiplicity to probe the effects of hadronic phase rescattering and regeneration at these low energies.
References
[1] The STAR Collaboration. L. Adamczyk, et al., "Bulk properties of the medium produced in relativistic heavy-ion collisions from the beam energy scan program", Phys. Rev. C 96, 044904 (2017).