Measurement of Charged Hadron Production in Relativistic Ion Collision Systems

Measurement of charged hadron production in relativistic ion collision systems is one of the main methods to study hadronization of quark–gluon plasma (QGP)—a state of matter that is thought to consist of asymptotically free quarks and gluons. According to QCD calculations, conditions in light collision systems, such as p + Al, d + Au, and 3 He + Au at the energy √(s_NN) ≈ 200 GeV are not sufficient for QGP formation, but some results of the PHENIX experiment can be interpreted as evidence of possible QGP formation in such systems. Therefore, investigation of charged hadron production in light collision systems is important for studying and discriminating between cold nuclear matter effects and possible QGP effects.