High-pT π0 suppression in Au+Au collisions at image GeV Original Research Article

Neutral pions with pT = 1−8 GeV/c have been measured for 9 centrality classes in Ai+Au collisions at View the MathML source GeV by the PHENIX experiment at RHIC. The π0 multiplicity in central reactions is significantly below the binary collision scaled yields from both peripheral Au+Au and pp reactions. The observed suppression sets in for the 50–70% centrality class and increases with pT and centrality. For the most central bin, the deficit amounts to a factor ∼2.5 at pT ∼2 GeV/c gradually increasing to a factor ∼6 at pT ∼8 GeV/c.