A selection of experimental results from the PHOBOS Collaboration relevant for probing high-energy nuclear collisions with high transverse momentum particles is presented. The inclusive yields of charged particles and comparisons between nuclear and elementary collisions already reveal a large amount of parton energy loss in the hot and dense medium created in heavy ion collisions. Remarkable scaling and factorization features are observed, unifying the data taken at various collision energies, centralities and nuclear sizes. To further analyze the nature of the energy loss, a measurement of pseudorapidity (Δη) and azimuthal angle (Δφ) correlations between high transverse momentum charged hadrons (p T >2.5 GeV/c) and all associated charged particles is presented at both short-range (small Δη) and long-range (large Δη) over a continuous detector acceptance covering −4<Δη<2. Various near- and away-side features of the correlation structure are discussed as a function of centrality in Au + Au collisions at \(\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200\) GeV. The results provide new information about the longitudinal (Δη) extent of the near-side ‘ridge’ structure, first observed by the STAR Collaboration over a narrower η range. In central Au + Au collisions the ridge structure extends to at least Δη=4, and its strength completely diminishes as collisions become more peripheral.

We review some of the latest results on identified and non-identified particle spectra for d+Au and Au+Au collisions at vNNTT</i? spectra in d+Au and Au+Au collisions reveal the strong final state effects for central Au+Au collisions. The first measurements of identified particle spectra and particle ratios from the PHOBOS Time of Flight (ToF) detector are presented for d+Au collisions. Detailed results on centrality and pseudorapidity dependence of transverse momentum spectra, which may have important physics implications, are also shown.

This paper reviews recent results on directed and elliptic flow from the PHOBOS experiment using data taken during Au+Au runs at RHIC. The systematic dependence of flow on pseudorapidity, energy, transverse momentum and centrality is discussed.

We review some of the latest results on identified and non-identified particle spectra for d+Au and Au+Au collisions at √s NN =200 GeV from the PHOBOS Experiment at RHIC. No enhancement of hadron yields at very low PT is observed. Analysis of the high-PT spectra in d+Au and Au+Au collisions reveal the strong final state effects for central Au+Au collisions. The first measurements of identified particle spectra and particle ratios from the PHOBOS Time of Flight (ToF) detector are presented for d+Au collisions. Detailed results on centrality and pseudorapidity dependence of transverse momentum spectra, which may have important physics implications. are also shown.

We are submitting a comment on the paper "Quantum Opacity, the RHIC HBT Puzzle, and the Chiral Phase Transition" by J.G. Cramer, G.A. Miller, J.M.S. Wu and J. Yoon, published in Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 102302 (2005).

In this manuscript, we give a short summary of recent physics results from PHOBOS. Particular emphasis is put on elliptic flow, fluctuations in the initial geometry and the recent measurements of elliptic flow fluctuations.

The PHOBOS experiment at RHIC has measured the total multiplicity of primary charged particles as a function of collision centrality in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 19.6, 130 and 200 GeV. Above sqrt(s_NN) ~ 20 GeV, the total multiplicity per participating nucleon pair (/) in central events scales with sqrt(s) in the same way as in e+e- data. This is suggestive of a universal mechanism of particle production in strongly-interacting systems, controlled mainly by the amount of energy available for particle production (per participant pair for heavy ion collisions). The same effect has been observed in pp/pbar-p data after correcting for the energy taken away by leading particles. An approximate independence of / on the number of participating nucleons is also observed, reminiscent of ``wounded nucleon'' scaling ( proportional to ), but with the constant of proportionality set by the multiplicity measured in e+e- data rather than by pp/pbar-p data.