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.

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.

Research and development of the back-end electronics for the two-dimensional improved resistive plate chambers in CMS upgrade

Purpose To complement and ensure redundancy in the endcap muon system of the Compact Muon Solenoid(CMS)detector and to extend the Resistive Plate Chamber(RPC)system coverage,improved RPCs(iRPCs)with either orthogonal layer strips with one-end electronics or single layer strips with two-end electronics providing more precise time measurement will be installed in the very forward pseudorapidity region of|η|<2.4.The iRPC readout system needs to support twodimensional(2D)or two-end readout.In addition,it must combine detector data with Timing,Trigger and fast Control(TTC)and Slow Control(SC)into one data stream over a bi-directional optical link with a line rate of 4.8 Gb/s between the Front-End Electronics(FEE)and the Back-End Electronics(BEE).To fulfill these requirements,a prototype BEE for the iRPC 2D chamber has been researched and designed.Methods A Micro-Telecommunication and Computing Architecture(μTCA)-based processing card was designed in this study to establish a prototype system together with aμTCA crate.The Giga-Bit Transceiver(GBT)protocol is integrated to provide bi-directional communication between the FEE and BEE.A server is connected with the BEE by a Gigabit Ethernet(GbE)link for SC and a 10-GbE link for Data AcQuisition(DAQ).Results The Bit Error Rate(BER)test of the back-end board and a joint test with the iRPC 2D prototype chamber were performed.ABERof less than 1.331×10−16 was obtained.The timemeasurement with a resolution of 3.05 nswas successfully realized,and detector efficiencies of 97.7%for longitudinal strips and 96.0%for orthogonal strips were measured.Test results demonstrate the correctness and reliability of the prototype BEE.Conclusion The BEE prototype satisfies the requirements for the iRPC 2D chamber,and it worked stably and reliably during a long-term joint test run.