Nuclear dependence of light neutral meson production in p-A collisions at 400 GeV with NA60

Abstract

The NA60 experiment has studied low-mass muon pair production in proton-nucleus collisions with a system of Be, Cu, In, W, Pb and U targets, using a 400 GeV proton beam at the CERN SPS. The transverse momentum spectra of the $\rho/\omega$ and $\phi$ mesons are measured in the full $p_\mathrm{T}$ range accessible, from $p_\mathrm{T} = 0$ up to 2 GeV/$c$. The nuclear dependence of the production cross sections of the $\eta$, $\omega$ and $\phi$ mesons has been found to be consistent with the power law $\sigma_\mathrm{pA} \propto \mathrm{A}^\alpha$, with the $\alpha$ parameter increasing as a function of $p_\mathrm{T}$ for all the particles, and an approximate hierarchy $\alpha_\eta \approx \alpha_\phi > \alpha_\omega$. The cross section ratios $\sigma_\eta/\sigma_\omega$, $\sigma_\rho/\sigma_\omega$ and $\sigma_\phi/\sigma_\omega$ have been studied as a function of the size A of the production target, and an increase of the $\eta$ and $\phi$ yields relative to the $\omega$ is observed from p-Be to p-U collisions.