Correlated production of p and (p)over-bar in Au+Au collisions at root s(NN)=200 GeV

Correlations between p and (p) over bar at transverse momenta typical of enhanced baryon production in Au + Au collisions are reported. The PHENIX experiment has measured same and opposite sign baryon pairs in Au + Au collisions at root s(NN) = 200 GeV. Correlated production of p and p with the trigger particle from the range 2.5 < p(T) < 4.0 GeV/c and the associated particle with 1.8 < p(T) < 2.5 GeV/c is observed to be nearly independent of the centrality of the collisions. Same sign pairs show no correlation at any centrality. The conditional yield of mesons triggered by baryons (and anti-baryons) and mesons in the same p(T) range rises with increasing centrality, except for the most central collisions, where baryons show a significantly smaller number of associated mesons. These data are consistent with a picture in which hard scattered partons produce correlated p and (p) over bar in the p(T) region of the baryon excess. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.