We review the main results obtained by the BRAHMS collaboration on the properties of hot and dense hadronic and partonic matter produced in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions at RHIC. A particular focus of this paper is to discuss to what extent the results collected so far by BRAHMS, and by the other three experiments at RHIC, can be taken as evidence for the formation of a state of deconfined partonic matter, the so called quark-gluon-plasma (QGP). We also discuss evidence for a possible precursor state to the QGP, i.e. the proposed Color Glass Condensate.

We report on a study of the transverse momentum dependence of nuclear modification factors R dAu for charged hadrons produced in deuteron + gold collisions at √ sNN = 200 GeV, as a function of collision centrality and of the pseudorapidity (η = 0, 1, 2.2, 3.2) of the produced hadrons. We find a significant and systematic decrease of R dAu with increasing rapidity. The mid-rapidity enhancement and the forward rapidity suppression are more pronounced in central collisions relative to peripheral collisions. These results are relevant to the study of the possible onset of gluon saturation at energies reached at BNL RHIC.

We have measured rapidity densities dN/dy of π ± and K ± over a broad rapidity range (−0.1 < y < 3.5) for central Au+Au collisions at √ sNN = 200 GeV. These data have significant implications for the chemistry and dynamics of the dense system that is initially created in the collisions. The full phase-space yields are 1660±15±133 (πThe systematics of the strange to non-strange meson ratios are found to track the variation of the baryo-chemical potential with rapidity and energy. Landau-Carruthers hydrodynamic is found to describe the bulk transport of the pions in the longitudinal direction.In ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions at RHIC energies, charged pions and kaons are produced copiously. The yields of these light mesons are indicators of the entropy and strangeness created in the reactions, sensitive observables to the possible existence of an early color deconfined phase, the so-called quark gluon plasma. In such collisions, the large number of produced particles and their subsequent reinteractions, either at the partonic or hadronic level, motivate the application of concepts of gas or fluid dynamics in their interpretation. Hydrodynamical properties of the expanding matter created in heavy ion reactions have been discussed by Landau [1] (full stopping) and Bjorken [2] (transparency), in theoretical pictures using different initial conditions. In both scenarios, thermal equilibrium is quickly achieved and the subsequent isentropic expansion is governed by hydrodynamics. The relative abundances and kinematic properties of particles provide an important tool for testing whether equilibrium occurs in the course of the collision. In discussing the source characteristics, it is important to measure most of the produced particles in order not to violate conservation laws (e.g. strangeness and charge conservation).In this letter, we report on the first measurements at RHIC energies of transverse momentum (p T ) spectra of π ± and K ± over the rapidity range −0.1 < y < 3.5 for the 5% most central Au+Au collisions at √ s N N = 200 GeV. The spectra are integrated to obtain yields as a function of rapidity (dN/dy), giving full phase-space (4π) yields. At RHIC energies, a low net-baryon density is observed at mid-rapidity [3], so mesons may be predominantly produced from the decay of the strong color field created initially. At forward rapidities, where primordial baryons are more abundant [4], other production mechanisms, for example associated strangeness production, play a larger role. Therefore, the observed rapidity distributions provide a sensitive test of models describing the space-time evolution of the reaction, such as Landau and Bjorken models [1,2]. In addition, integrated yields are a key input to statistical models of particle production [5,6].BRAHMS consists of two hadron spectrometers, a mid-rapidity arm (MRS) and a forward rapidity arm (FS), as well as a set of detectors for global event characterization [7]. Collision centrality is determined from charged particle multiplicities, measured by sc...

Charged particle pseudorapidity densities are presented for the 197 Au + 197 Au reaction at √ s NN = 130 GeV. These densities provide an essential characterization of the underlying reactions mechanisms for ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions. This talk details how the global charged particle yields are measured at BRAHMS and presents some preliminary results from the analysis of data taken during the first year of the RHIC experimental program.

The reactions 12 Cϩ 116 Sn, 22 NeϩAg, 40 Arϩ 100 Mo, and 64 Znϩ 89 Y have been studied at 47A MeV projectile energy. For these reactions the most violent collisions lead to increasing amounts of fragment and light particle emission as the projectile mass increases. This is consistent with quantum molecular dynamics ͑QMD͒ model simulations of the collisions. Moving source fits to the light charged particle data have been used to gain a global view of the evolution of the particle emission. Comparisons of the multiplicities and spectra of light charged particles emitted in the reactions with the four different projectiles indicate a common emission mechanism for early emitted ejectiles even though the deposited excitation energies differ greatly. The spectra for such ejectiles can be characterized as emission in the nucleon-nucleon frame. Evidence that the 3 He yield is dominated by this type of emission and the role of the collision dynamics in determining the 3 H/ 3 He yield ratio are discussed. Self-consistent coalescence model analyses are applied to the light cluster yields, in an attempt to probe emitter source sizes and to follow the evolution of the temperatures and densities from the time of first particle emission to equilibration. These analyses exploit correlations between ejectile energy and emission time, suggested by the QMD calculations. In this analysis the degree of expansion of the emitting system is found to increase with increasing projectile mass. The double isotope yield ratio temperature drops as the system expands. Average densities as low as 0.36 0 are reached at a time near 100 fm/c after contact. Calorimetric methods were used to derive the mass and excitation energy of the excited nuclei which are present after preequilibrium emission. The derived masses range from 102 to 116 u and the derived excitation energies increase from 2.6 to 6.9 MeV/nucleon with increasing projectile mass. A caloric curve is derived for these expanded Aϳ110 nuclei. This caloric curve exhibits a plateau at temperatures near 7 MeV. The plateau extends from ϳ3.5 to 6.9 MeV/nucleon excitation energy.PACS number͑s͒: 25.70.Mn, 24.10.Lx