# Geometric Parameterization of 𝐽/Ψ Absorption in Heavy Ion Collisions

## 1 Introduction

Recently, data from the NA50 collaboration on $`J/\mathrm{\Psi }`$ yields from p+A and A+A collisions have become available, which have been interpreted as displaying “anomalous $`J/\mathrm{\Psi }`$ suppression”. It has been predicted that in the case of a phase transition to a quark-gluon plasma (QGP), the yield of $`J/\mathrm{\Psi }`$ is suppressed due to Debye screening. There have been numerous efforts to explain this data, invoking such effects as interactions with co-moving hadrons and suppressed production due to initial state energy loss, as well as decreased yields in a QGP.

However, even in the absence of a deconfinement transition, the $`J/\mathrm{\Psi }`$ can undergo inelastic interactions as it traverses the nuclear medium (as has been shown recently in data from p+A collisions), which reduces the overall $`J/\mathrm{\Psi }`$ yield. Thus, the signature for a deconfinement transition would be $`J/\mathrm{\Psi }`$ suppression at a level beyond that expected from the normal nuclear medium, an effect referred to as “anomalous $`J/\mathrm{\Psi }`$ suppression”.

In the analysis of the NA50 data, the ratio of observed $`J/\mathrm{\Psi }`$ to Drell-Yan yields is interpreted as proportional to the $`J/\mathrm{\Psi }`$ survival probability. This ratio is then fit as an exponential function of a simple, linearly-averaged mean path length through the nuclear medium $`L`$ which returns a value for the $`J/\mathrm{\Psi }`$-nucleon breakup cross section of 6.2$`\pm `$0.7 mb. The comparison of this experimentally determined cross section and theoretical modeling is important in determining the relative contributions of the “pre-resonance” color octet and the color singlet states to the overall absorption in A-A collisions, as well as in estimating the magnitude of the anomalous $`J/\mathrm{\Psi }`$ suppression.

In this paper we describe a calculation of $`J/\mathrm{\Psi }`$ survival probability in A+A collisions. The results of this calculation indicate that a breakup cross section derived in the manner of  is systematically lower than the actual value. We will discuss the origin of this discrepancy.

## 2 The Geometric Model

In order to study the effect of collision geometry on the $`J/\mathrm{\Psi }`$ survival probability, we have utilized a Glauber model approach, implementing Woods-Saxon parameterizations of nucleon distributions within the colliding nuclei. Thus, assuming spherical symmetry for the nuclei, the nucleon density is described by:

$$\frac{\mathrm{dN}}{\mathrm{dR}}\left[1+\mathrm{exp}\left(\frac{\mathrm{R}\mathrm{C}}{\mathrm{D}}\right)\right]^1$$
(1)   
where

$$\mathrm{C}=\mathrm{R}_0\times \mathrm{A}_{\mathrm{nucleus}}^{1/3}$$
(2)   
where $`\mathrm{R}_0`$= 1.11 fm, $`\mathrm{A}_{\mathrm{nucleus}}`$ is the atomic number of the nucleus, and D = 0.75 fm. For the specific case of a Pb nucleus, the parameters used are $`\mathrm{R}_0`$ = 1.1 fm, C = 6.624 fm, and D = 0.549 fm, as given in . The nucleon-nucleon cross section used in the Glauber calculation is $`\sigma _{int}`$=30 mb. The results of the calculation are not sensitive to the exact value of this parameter over the range 25-40 mb.

Production of $`J/\mathrm{\Psi }`$ is modeled by assuming that each nucleon-nucleon collision has the same probability of producing a $`J/\mathrm{\Psi }`$. We note that this modeling assumes that initial state energy loss does not affect $`J/\mathrm{\Psi }`$ production. We are currently investigating the validity of this condition; the results of this study will be addressed in detail in a follow-up paper.

After production, the $`J/\mathrm{\Psi }`$ is taken to be at rest in the center-of-mass frame, such that the survival probability is a function of the path length through nuclear material which the $`J/\mathrm{\Psi }`$ must traverse, the nucleon density and the breakup cross section $`\sigma _{J/\mathrm{\Psi }N}`$. Specifically, the survival probability calculation requires an integration over $`z`$:

$$P_{surv}^{tgt,proj}=_{z_{production}}^{z_{tgt,proj}}\mathrm{exp}(\rho (R)\sigma _{J/\mathrm{\Psi }N}z)𝑑z$$
(3)   
where $`z_{tgt,proj}`$ is the position of the trailing edge of the target and projectile nuclei, respectively (defined by the $`z`$ value, at the same $`x`$ and $`y`$ values as the production point, where the nucleon density is negligibly small) and $`\rho (R)`$ is the local nucleon density. The total survival probability is just the product of the two terms, $`P_{surv}=P_{surv}^{tgt}\times P_{surv}^{proj}`$.

Clearly, the survival probability of a given $`J/\mathrm{\Psi }`$ depends strongly on where in the interaction region it is produced. However, for any given collision geometry (i.e. impact parameter), there are a wide range of possible production points, each with a different $`J/\mathrm{\Psi }`$ survival probability. Thus, the mean survival probability for a given geometry represents an average over all possible $`J/\mathrm{\Psi }`$ production points within the interaction region. We note that in the interpretation of actual experimental data, the situation is further complicated by the impossibility of experimentally selecting on impact parameter, given finite detector resolution and the natural dispersion in the various centrality-related measurable quantities. Thus, measured $`J/\mathrm{\Psi }`$ yields represent an average over various collision geometries in addition to the average over survival probabilities for a fixed, “ideal” geometry, as discussed here.

In previous analyses, the $`J/\mathrm{\Psi }`$ survival probability was taken as proportional to the ratio of observed $`J/\mathrm{\Psi }`$ yields to Drell-Yan. For various classes of event geometries, this ratio was fit as an exponential function of $`L`$, the mean path length through the nuclear medium which the $`J/\mathrm{\Psi }`$ must traverse. In that approach, $`L`$ for a given class of geometries was the average of $`\overline{L}(b)`$ for the impact parameters $`b`$ contained in that class and

$$\overline{L}(b)=\frac{1}{\rho _0}\rho 𝑑z,$$
(4)   
where $`\rho _0`$ is the mean nucleon density, $`\rho `$ is the local nucleon density and the integration is performed over the interaction region. We have performed a similar calculation within our Glauber model. In our model, we have used a mean nuclear density of $`\rho _0`$=0.1793 nucleons/fm<sup>3</sup>; the results of the calculation are insensitive to this normalization factor. For a given colliding system, the value $`L`$ averaged over all impact parameters (i.e. minimum bias) can be calculated analytically (see  for details), which provides a cross check of the $`L`$ calculation; our values agree well with the expected values.

Shown in Fig. 1 are the calculated $`J/\mathrm{\Psi }`$ survival probabilities for various colliding systems and geometries, plotted as a function of $`L`$. To arrive at the specific $`L`$ points given in the figure, we have simulated NA50 transverse energy bins; transverse energy is assumed to scale as the number of wounded nucleons. However, the substance of the figure does not depend on the specific centrality bins chosen. For the points shown, a breakup cross section of $`\sigma _{J/\mathrm{\Psi }N}`$ = 6.2 mb is used as input to our Glauber calculation. As can be seen clearly in Fig. 1, the apparent breakup cross section of 5.5 mb obtained from an exponential fit versus $`L`$ differs substantially from the actual breakup cross section. Further, the points from the calculation, while they give a reasonable fit, do not lie precisely on an exponential. Since the points do not lie on a perfect exponential, the amount of error incurred by fitting as a function of $`L`$ will depend on the exact centrality binning implemented. However, we emphasize that the discrepancy between the apparent and actual breakup cross sections is inherent in the collision geometry, and would be present even if it were possible experimentally to precisely determine the event impact parameter.

It is important to gauge the level of the deviation from exponential simply due to the error in calculating $`L`$, since the anomalous suppression in Pb+Pb collisions is measured relative to an extrapolation of the exponential fit. We have found that there is a systematic deviation from exponential, but of a relatively small magnitude. And it is notable that this deviation for the most central Pb + Pb values is above the projected exponential fit, in the opposite direction of the suppression. Thus the observed suppression is not explained away by the error in plotting versus $`L`$.

However, the breakup cross section calculated this way is incorrect, and this error is straightforward to understand. For any single $`J/\mathrm{\Psi }`$, the survival probability follows an exponential in $`L`$ for its given production point. However, when calculating the mean survival probability, care must be taken on how the mean path length is calculated. While the calculation of $`L`$ as described above treats all points in the interaction region as contributing equally to production, it does not take into account the fact that, due to the exponential nature of absorption, all points in the interaction region do not contribute equally to net $`J/\mathrm{\Psi }`$ yields. In order to accurately determine the actual breakup cross section from measured $`J/\mathrm{\Psi }`$ yields, the possible production points must be weighted by their survival probability, which depends on the breakup cross section; thus, a proper calculation of $`\sigma _{J/\mathrm{\Psi }N}`$ could be accomplished via an iterative calculation, similar in spirit to the one detailed here, which exactly returns the input cross section if a weighted mean path length is used. Since surviving $`J/\mathrm{\Psi }`$ particles preferentially come from near the outer edges of the interaction region, an exponential fit versus a linearly-averaged $`L`$ systematically returns an apparent breakup cross section which is less than the actual value. In Fig. 2, apparent breakup cross sections for various sample input breakup cross sections are shown; a fit to the points yields:

$$\sigma _{\mathrm{actual}}=0.118+0.932\sigma _{\mathrm{apparent}}+0.030\sigma _{\mathrm{apparent}}^2$$
(5)   
The exact values for this fit correspond to the centrality bins chosen, and vary slightly for different binning. With this caveat in mind, for an apparent breakup cross section of 6.2$`\pm `$0.7 mb, as reported in , our model indicates that the actual breakup cross section is 7.1$`\pm `$0.9 mb.

## 3 Conclusions

We have calculated the survival probability of $`J/\mathrm{\Psi }`$ particles in various colliding systems using a Glauber model, and compared the results to the nuclear absorption observed by the NA50 collaboration. While our calculation does not reconcile the issue of whether anomalous $`J/\mathrm{\Psi }`$ suppression has been observed in the NA50 Pb+Pb data, it does indicate that the apparent breakup cross sections determined by a fit of yields versus $`L`$ are systematically lower than the actual value, and a proper evaluation of the breakup cross section requires an iterative calculation.