Measurements of neutral and charged kaon production at high pT up to 15 GeV/c at STAR

Abstract

We report an extension of charged kaon transverse momentum ($p_T$) spectra at mid-rapidity ($\mid y\mid <$ 0.5) up to 15 GeV/$c$, neutral kaon $p_T$ spectra up to 12 GeV/$c$ using events triggered by the Barrel Electro-Magnetic Calorimeter (BEMC) from p+p collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV. The $K^{\pm }/{\pi }^{\pm }$ and $K^0/{\pi }^{\pm }$ at high $p_T$ are compared in p+p and Au+Au collisions, and nuclear modification factor ($R_{AA}$)for pion, kaon, proton and rho are discussed. The $R_{AA}$ for kaon in central collisions are consistent with theory calculation having jet conversion in a plasma of quarks and gluons.

Comments: 4 pages, 3 figures - To appear in the conference proceedings for Quark Matter 2009, March 30 - April 4, Knoxville, Tennessee