Methods for a blind analysis of isobar data collected by the STAR collaboration

In 2018,the STAR collaboration collected data from^(96)_(44)Ru+^(96)_(44)Ru and^(96)_(40)Zr+^(96)_(40)Zr at√^(S)NN=200 Ge V to search for the presence of the chiral magnetic effect in collisions of nuclei.The isobar collision species alternated frequently between 9644 Ru+^(96)_(44)Ru and^(96)_(40)Zr+^(96)_(40)Zr.In order to conduct blind analyses of studies related to the chiral magnetic effect in these isobar data,STAR developed a three-step blind analysis procedure.Analysts are initially provided a"reference sample"of data,comprised of a mix of events from the two species,the order of which respects time-dependent changes in run conditions.After tuning analysis codes and performing time-dependent quality assurance on the reference sample,analysts are provided a species-blind sample suitable for calculating efficiencies and corrections for individual≈30-min data-taking runs.For this sample,species-specific information is disguised,but individual output files contain data from a single isobar species.Only run-by-run corrections and code alteration subsequent to these corrections are allowed at this stage.Following these modifications,the"frozen"code is passed over the fully un-blind data,completing the blind analysis.As a check of the feasibility of the blind analysis procedure,analysts completed a"mock data challenge,"analyzing data from Au+Au collisions at√^(S)NN=27 Ge V,collected in 2018.The Au+Au data were prepared in the same manner intended for the isobar blind data.The details of the blind analysis procedure and results from the mock data challenge are presented.

The Lobster Eye Imager for Astronomy Onboard the SATech-01 Satellite

The Lobster Eye Imager for Astronomy(LEIA),a pathfinder of the Wide-field X-ray Telescope of the Einstein Probe mission,was successfully launched onboard the SATech-01 satellite of the Chinese Academy of Sciences on2022 July 27.In this paper,we introduce the design and on-ground test results of the LEIA instrument.Using stateof-the-art Micro-Pore Optics(MPO),a wide field of view of 346 square degrees(18.6°×18.6°)of the X-ray imager is realized.An optical assembly composed of 36 MPO chips is used to focus incident X-ray photons,and four large-format complementary metal-oxide semiconductor(CMOS)sensors,each of size 6 cm×6 cm,are used as the focal plane detectors.The instrument has an angular resolution of 4’-8’(in terms of FWHM)for the central focal spot of the point-spread function,and an effective area of 2-3 cm^(2) at 1 keV in essentially all the directions within the field of view.The detection passband is 0.5-4 keV in soft X-rays and the sensitivity is2-3×10^(-11) erg s^(-1) cm^(-2)(about 1 milliCrab)with a 1000 s observation.The total weight of LEIA is 56 kg and the power is 85 W.The satellite,with a design lifetime of 2 yr,operates in a Sun-synchronous orbit of 500 km with an orbital period of 95 minutes.LEIA is paving the way for future missions by verifying in flight the technologies of both novel focusing imaging optics and CMOS sensors for X-ray observation,and by optimizing the working setups of the instrumental parameters.In addition,LEIA is able to carry out scientific observations to find new transients and to monitor known sources in the soft X-ray band,albeit with limited useful observing time available.

Measurement of away-side broadening with self-subtraction of flow in Au+Au collisions at √sNN=200 GeV

High transverse momentum(pT)particle production is suppressed owing to the parton(jet)energy loss in the hot dense medium created in relativistic heavy-ion collisions.Redistribution of energy at low-to-modest pT has been difficult to measure,owing to large anisotropic backgrounds.We report a data-driven method for background evaluation and subtraction,exploiting the away-side pseudorapidity gaps,to measure the jetlike correlation shape in Au+Au collisions at √sNN=200 GeV in the STAR experiment.The correlation shapes,for trigger particles pT>3GeV/c and various associated particle pT ranges within 0.5<pT<10GeV/c,are consistent with Gaussians,and their widths increase with centrality.The results indicate jet broadening in the medium created in central heavy-ion collisions.