Open Access

Nonmonotonicity of Transverse Momentum Correlations in $Au + Au$ Collisions at RHIC

B. E. Aboona ⁵⁹, J. Adam ¹⁸, L. Adamczyk ⁴, I. Aggarwal ⁴⁶, M. M. Aggarwal ⁴⁶, Z. Ahammed ⁶⁷, A. K. Alshammri ³⁴, E. C. Aschenauer ⁸, S. Aslam ²³ et al. (STAR Collaboration^*)

S. Aslam ²³, J. Atchison ³, V. Bairathi ⁵⁷, X. Bao ⁵³, P. Barik ²⁸, K. Barish ¹³, S. Behera ²⁹, R. Bellwied ²⁶, P. Bhagat ³³, A. Bhasin ³³, S. Bhatta ⁵⁶, S. R. Bhosale ⁴, J. Bielcik ¹⁸, J. Bielcikova ^44,18, J. D. Brandenburg ⁴⁵, C. Broodo ²⁶, X. Z. Cai ⁵⁴, H. Caines ⁷¹, M. Calderón de la Barca Sánchez¹¹, D. Cebra ¹¹, J. Ceska ¹⁸, I. Chakaberia ³⁷, P. Chaloupka ¹⁸, Y. S. Chang ⁴⁷, Z. Chang ³¹, A. Chatterjee ²⁰, D. Chen ¹³, J. H. Chen ²³, L. Chen ¹⁴, Q. Chen ²⁴, W. Chen ²³, Z. Chen ⁵³, J. Cheng ⁶², Y. Cheng ¹², W. Christie ⁸, X. Chu ⁸, S. Corey ⁴⁵, H. J. Crawford ¹⁰, M. Csanád²¹, G. Dale-Gau ¹⁸, A. Das ¹⁸, D. De Souza Lemos ⁸, I. M. Deppner ²⁵, A. Deshpande ⁵⁶, A. Dhamija ⁴⁶, A. Dimri ⁵⁶, P. Dixit ²³, X. Dong ³⁷, J. L. Drachenberg ³, E. Duckworth ³⁴, J. C. Dunlop ⁸, Y. S. El-Feky ⁶, J. Engelage ¹⁰, G. Eppley⁴⁸, S. Esumi ⁶³, O. Evdokimov ¹⁵, O. Eyser ⁸, B. Fan ¹⁴, Y. Fang ⁶², R. Fatemi ³⁵, S. Fazio ⁹, H. Feng ¹⁴, Y. Feng ¹⁴, E. Finch ⁵⁵, Y. Fisyak ⁸, F. A. Flor ⁵, B. Fu ¹⁴, C. Fu ³², T. Fu ⁵³, C. A. Gagliardi ⁵⁹, T. Galatyuk ¹⁹, T. Gao ⁵³, Y. Gao²³, G. Garcia ⁸, F. Geurts ⁴⁸, A. Gibson ⁶⁶, A. Giri ²⁶, K. Gopal ²⁹, X. Gou ⁵³, D. Grosnick ⁶⁶, A. Gu ²⁷, J. Gu ²³, A. Gupta ³³, W. Guryn⁸, A. Hamed ⁶, R. J. Hamilton ⁷¹, J. Han ¹⁴, X. Han ⁴⁵, S. Harabasz ¹⁹, M. D. Harasty ¹¹, J. W. Harris ⁷¹, H. Harrison-Smith ³⁵, L. B. Havener ⁷¹, X. H. He ³², Y. He ⁵³, N. Herrmann ²⁵, L. Holub ¹⁸, C. Hu ⁶⁴, Q. Hu ³², Y. Hu ³⁷, H. Huang ^43,1, H. Z. Huang ¹², S. L. Huang ⁵⁶, T. Huang ¹, Y. Huang ²¹, Y. Huang ³², Y. Huang ²³, M. Isshiki ⁶³, W. W. Jacobs³¹, A. Jalotra ³³, C. Jena ²⁹, A. Jentsch ⁸, Y. Ji ⁶⁴, J. Jia ^56,8, X. Jiang ¹⁴, C. Jin ⁴⁸, Y. Jin ¹⁴, N. Jindal ⁴⁵, X. Ju ⁵⁰, E. G. Judd ¹⁰, S. Kabana ⁵⁷, D. Kalinkin ³⁵, J. Kang ⁵², K. Kang⁶², A. R. Kanuganti ⁸, D. Kapukchyan ¹³, K. Kauder ⁸, D. Keane ³⁴, M. Kesler ³⁴, A. Khanal ⁶⁹, A. Khanal ⁵⁸, Y. V. Khyzhniak ⁴⁵, D. P. Kikoła⁶⁸, J. Kim ⁸, D. Kincses ²¹, I. Kisel ²², A. Kiselev ⁸, A. G. Knospe ³⁸, J. Kołaś⁶⁸, Y. Kong ¹⁴, B. Korodi ⁴⁵, L. K. Kosarzewski ⁴⁵, L. Kumar ⁴⁶, M. C. Labonte ¹¹, J. M. Landgraf ⁸, C. Larson ³⁵, J. Lauret ⁸, J. H. Lee ⁸, Y. H. Leung ²⁵, C. Li ¹⁴, D. Li ⁵⁰, H-S. Li ⁴⁷, H. Li ⁷⁰, H. Li ²⁴, H. Li ¹⁴, W. Li ⁴⁸, X. Li ⁵⁰, X. Li ⁵⁰, Y. Li ⁶², Z. Li⁵¹, Z. Li ⁵⁰, X. Liang ¹³, R. Licenik ^44,18, T. Lin ⁵³, Y. Lin ²⁴, M. A. Lisa ⁴⁵, C. Liu ³², G. Liu ⁵¹, H. Liu ²⁷, L. Liu ⁵³, L. Liu ²³, Z. Liu ²³, Z. Liu ¹⁴, T. Ljubicic ⁴⁸, O. Lomicky ¹⁸, E. M. Loyd ¹³, T. Lu ³², J. Luo ⁵⁰, X. F. Luo ¹⁴, L. Ma ²³, R. Ma ⁸, Y. G. Ma ²³, N. Magdy⁶⁰, D. Mallick ¹⁴, R. Manikandhan ²⁶, C. Markert ⁶¹, O. Matonoha ¹⁸, P. Mccallips⁶⁶, K. Menduli ²⁸, K. Mi ⁶⁴, S. Mioduszewski ⁵⁹, B. Mohanty ⁴², B. Mondal ⁴², M. M. Mondal ³⁹, I. Mooney ⁷¹, J. Mrazkova ^44,18, M. I. Nagy ²¹, C. J. Naim ⁵⁶, A. S. Nain ⁴⁶, J. D. Nam ⁵⁸, M. Nasim ²⁸, H. Nasrulloh ⁵⁰, K. Nayak ², T. Nayak²⁶, J. M. Nelson ¹⁰, M. Nie ⁵³, G. Nigmatkulov ¹⁵, T. Niida ⁶³, T. Nonaka ⁶³, G. Odyniec ³⁷, A. Ogawa ⁸, S. Oh ⁵², K. Okubo ⁶³, B. S. Page ⁸, M. Pal ⁵⁸, S. Pal ¹⁸, A. Pandav ³⁷, A. Panday ²⁸, A. K. Pandey ⁶⁸, T. Pani ⁴⁹, A. Paul ¹³, S. Paul ⁵⁶, D. Pawlowska ⁶⁸, C. Perkins ¹⁰, S. Ping ²³, J. Pluta⁶⁸, I. D. Ponce Pinto ⁷¹, M. Posik ⁵⁸, E. Pottebaum ⁷¹, A. Praharaj²⁸, S. Prodhan ²⁹, T. L. Protzman ³⁸, A. Prozorov ¹⁸, V. Prozorova ¹⁸, N. K. Pruthi ⁴⁶, M. Przybycien ⁴, J. Putschke ⁶⁹, Y. Qi ¹⁴, Z. Qin ⁶², H. Qiu ³², S. K. Radhakrishnan ³⁴, A. Rana ⁴⁶, R. L. Ray ⁶¹, R. Reed ³⁸, C. W. Robertson ⁴⁷, M. Robotkova ^44,18, M. A. Rosales Aguilar ³⁵, D. Roy ⁴⁹, P. Roy Chowdhury ⁶⁸, L. Ruan ⁸, A. K. Sahoo ³², N. R. Sahoo ²⁹, H. Sako ⁶³, S. Salur ⁴⁹, S. S. Sambyal ³³, D. T. Samuel ³⁴, J. K. Sandhu ³⁸, S. Sato ⁶³, B. C. Schaefer ³⁸, F-J. Seck ¹⁹, J. Seger ¹⁷, R. Seto ¹³, P. Seyboth ⁴⁰, N. Shah ³⁰, P. V. Shanmuganathan ⁸, T. Shao ²³, M. Sharma ³³, R. Sharma ²⁹, S. R. Sharma ²⁹, A. I. Sheikh ³⁴, D. Shen ⁵³, D. Y. Shen ³², K. Shen ⁵⁰, S. Shi ¹⁴, Y. Shi ⁵³, Shilpa³⁴, E. Shulga ⁸, F. Si ⁵⁰, J. Singh ⁵⁷, S. Singha ³², P. Sinha ²⁹, M. J. Skoby ^7,47, N. Smirnov ⁷¹, Y. Söhngen²⁵, Y. Song ⁷¹, T. D. S. Stanislaus ⁶⁶, M. Stefaniak ⁴⁵, Y. Su ⁵⁰, M. Sumbera ⁴⁴, X. Sun ³², Y. Sun ⁵⁰, B. Surrow ⁵⁸, M. Svoboda ^44,18, Z. W. Sweger ¹¹, A. C. Tamis ⁷¹, A. H. Tang ⁸, Z. Tang ⁵⁰, A. Tanner⁶⁶, T. Tarnowsky ⁴¹, J. H. Thomas ³⁷, A. R. Timmins ²⁶, D. Tlusty ¹⁷, D. Torres-Valladares ⁴⁸, S. Trentalange ¹², P. Tribedy ⁸, S. K. Tripathy ⁶⁸, T. Truhlar ¹⁸, B. A. Trzeciak ¹⁸, O. D. Tsai ^12,8, C. Y. Tsang ^5,8, Z. Tu ⁸, J. E. Tyler ⁵⁹, T. Ullrich ⁸, D. G. Underwood ^5,66, G. Van Buren ⁸, J. Vanek ⁸, I. Vassiliev ²², F. Videbæk⁸, S. A. Voloshin ⁶⁹, F. Wang ⁴⁷, G. Wang ¹², G. Wang ¹⁴, J. S. Wang ²⁷, J. Wang ⁵³, K. Wang ⁵⁰, X. Wang ⁵³, Y. Wang ⁵⁰, Y. Wang ¹⁴, Y. Wang ⁶², Z. Wang ²³, Z. Wang ¹⁴, Z. Y. Wang ²³, J. C. Webb ⁸, P. C. Weidenkaff ²⁵, G. D. Westfall ⁴¹, D. Wielanek ⁶⁸, H. Wieman³⁷, G. Wilks ¹⁵, S. W. Wissink ³¹, R. Witt ⁶⁵, C. P. Wong ⁸, J. Wu ⁶⁴, X. Wu ¹², X. Wu ⁵⁰, X. Wu ¹⁴, A. J. Wątroba⁴, B. Xi ²³, Y. Xiao ²³, Z. G. Xiao ⁶², G. Xie ⁶⁴, W. Xie ⁴⁷, H. Xu ²⁷, N. Xu ¹⁴, Q. H. Xu ⁵³, X. Xu ⁶², Y. Xu ⁵³, Y. Xu ²³, Y. Xu ¹⁴, Y. Xu ³², Z. Xu ³⁴, Z. Xu ⁵, G. Yan ⁵³, Z. Yan ⁵⁶, C. Yang ⁵³, Q. Yang ⁵³, S. Yang ⁵¹, Y. Yang ^1,43, Z. Ye ⁵¹, Z. Ye ³⁷, L. Yi ⁵³, Y. Yu ⁵³, W. Yuan ⁶², H. Zbroszczyk ⁶⁸, W. Zha ⁵⁰, C. Zhang ²³, D. Zhang ⁵¹, J. Zhang ⁵³, K. Zhang ¹⁴, L. Zhang ¹⁴, S. Zhang ¹⁶, W. Zhang ⁵¹, X. Zhang ³², Y. Zhang ³², Y. Zhang ⁵⁰, Y. Zhang ⁵³, Y. Zhang ²⁴, Z. Zhang ⁸, Z. Zhang ¹⁵, F. Zhao ³⁶, J. Zhao ²³, S. Zhou ¹⁴, Y. Zhou ¹⁴, C. Zhu ¹⁴, X. Zhu ⁶², and M. Zyzak ²² (STAR Collaboration^*)

¹Academia Sinica, Nankang, 115
²Panchayat College (PC), Bargarh, Affiliated with Sambalpur University (SU), Odisha 768028, India
³Abilene Christian University, Abilene, Texas 79699
⁴AGH University of Krakow, FPACS, Cracow 30-059, Poland
⁵Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439
⁶American University in Cairo, New Cairo 11835, Egypt
⁷Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana, 47306
⁸Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973
⁹University of Calabria and INFN-Cosenza, Rende 87036, Italy
¹⁰University of California, Berkeley, California 94720
¹¹University of California, Davis, California 95616
¹²University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095
¹³University of California, Riverside, California 92521
¹⁴Central China Normal University, Wuhan, Hubei 430079
¹⁵University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60607
¹⁶Chongqing University, Chongqing, 401331
¹⁷Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska 68178
¹⁸Czech Technical University in Prague, FNSPE, Prague 115 19, Czech Republic
¹⁹Technische Universität Darmstadt, Darmstadt 64289, Germany
²⁰National Institute of Technology Durgapur, Durgapur—713209, India
²¹ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary H-1117
²²Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies FIAS, Frankfurt 60438, Germany
²³Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433
²⁴Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, 541004
²⁵University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg 69120, Germany
²⁶University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204
²⁷Huzhou University, Huzhou, Zhejiang 313000
²⁸Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Berhampur 760010, India
²⁹Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Tirupati, Tirupati 517507, India
³⁰Indian Institute Technology, Patna, Bihar 801106, India
³¹Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47408
³²Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000
³³University of Jammu, Jammu 180001, India
³⁴Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 44242
³⁵University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40506-0055
³⁶Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000
³⁷Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720
³⁸Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015
³⁹Lovely Professional University, Jalandhar—Delhi G.T. Road, Pagwara, Panjab, 144411, India
⁴⁰Max-Planck-Institut für Physik, Munich 80805, Germany
⁴¹Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824
⁴²National Institute of Science Education and Research, HBNI, Jatni 752050, India
⁴³National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101
⁴⁴Nuclear Physics Institute of the CAS, Rez 250 68, Czech Republic
⁴⁵The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210
⁴⁶Panjab University, Chandigarh 160014, India
⁴⁷Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907
⁴⁸Rice University, Houston, Texas 77251
⁴⁹Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854
⁵⁰University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026
⁵¹South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510631
⁵²Sejong University, Seoul, 05006, Republic of Korea
⁵³Shandong University, Qingdao, Shandong 266237
⁵⁴Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800
⁵⁵Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, Connecticut 06515
⁵⁶State University of New York, Stony Brook, New York 11794
⁵⁷Instituto de Alta Investigación, Universidad de Tarapacá, Arica 1000000, Chile
⁵⁸Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122
⁵⁹Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843
⁶⁰Texas Southern University, Houston, Texas, 77004
⁶¹University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712
⁶²Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084
⁶³University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8571, Japan
⁶⁴University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 101408
⁶⁵United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland 21402
⁶⁶Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Indiana 46383
⁶⁷Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre, Kolkata 700064, India
⁶⁸Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw 00-661, Poland
⁶⁹Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan 48201
⁷⁰Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430065
⁷¹Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520

^*Contact author: publication@bnl.gov

PDF

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 132301 – Published 22 September, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/2xsn-rgx3

This article was published on 22 September, 2026. Please update your links.

Abstract

Event-by-event transverse momentum correlations are sensitive to the equation of state of strongly interacting matter and are expected to exhibit anomalous fluctuations in the vicinity of the QCD critical point. We report the first measurements of two-particle transverse momentum ( $p_{T}$ ) correlations for mid-rapidity charged particles in fixed-target $Au + Au$ collisions at nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energies $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 3.0 - 7.7 GeV$ , measured by the STAR experiment during the Beam Energy Scan (BES) Phase II program. The dependence of the scaled correlator on the number of participating nucleons ( $N_{part}$ ) is studied to test expectations from an independent-source scenario, where the correlations are expected to scale as $1 / \sqrt{N_{part}}$ . We observe a clear breakdown of the expected scaling behavior in central collisions and identify a statistically significant nonmonotonic dependence of the $p_{T}$ correlations on collision energy, with a significance of approximately $5 σ$ . In contrast, transport-model calculations and data from mid-central collisions yield significances of only $2 σ$ and $1.4 σ$ , respectively—insufficient to support a claim of nonmonotonicity. These observations provide new constraints on the equation of state at high baryon density and may be sensitive to the presence of a QCD critical point.

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

Supplemental Material

References (69)

M. M. Aggarwal et al. (STAR Collaboration), arXiv:1007.2613.
A. Bzdak, S. Esumi, V. Koch, J. Liao, M. Stephanov, and N. Xu, Phys. Rep. 853, 1 (2020).
J. Chen et al., Nucl. Sci. Tech. 35, 214 (2024).
J. Adam et al. (STAR Collaboration), Phys. Rev. C 103, 034908 (2021).
W.-j. Fu, J. M. Pawlowski, and F. Rennecke, Phys. Rev. D 101, 054032 (2020).
P. J. Gunkel and C. S. Fischer, Phys. Rev. D 104, 054022 (2021).
M. Hippert, J. Grefa, T. Manning, J. Noronha, J. Noronha-Hostler, I. Vazquez, C. Ratti, R. Rougemont, and M. Trujillo, Phys. Rev. D 110, 094006 (2024).
G. m. c. Başar, Phys. Rev. C 110, 015203 (2024).
D. A. Clarke, P. Dimopoulos, F. D. Renzo, J. Goswami, C. Schmidt, S. Singh, and K. Zambello, Phys. Rev. D 112, L091504 (2025).
H. Shah, M. Hippert, J. Noronha, C. Ratti, and V. Vovchenko, Phys. Rev. C 113, L012201 (2026).
A. Sorensen and P. Sorensen, arXiv:2405.10278.
S. A. Bass, P. Danielewicz, and S. Pratt, Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 2689 (2000).
S. A. Voloshin, V. Koch, and H. G. Ritter, Phys. Rev. C 60, 024901 (1999).
H. Heiselberg, Phys. Rep. 351, 161 (2001).
V. Koch and V. Vovchenko, Eur. Phys. J. Spec. Top. (2026).
M. Stephanov, K. Rajagopal, and E. Shuryak, Phys. Rev. D 60, 114028 (1999).
M. S. Pradeep, J. Subatomic Part. Cosmol. 4, 100189 (2025).
M. M. Aggarwal et al. (STAR Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 022302 (2010).
L. Adamczyk et al. (STAR Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 032302 (2014).
J. Adam et al. (STAR Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 092301 (2021); 134, 139902(E) (2025).
B. E. Aboona et al. (STAR Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 142301 (2025).
S. Gavin, Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 162301 (2004).
S. Gavin and G. Moschelli, Phys. Rev. C 85, 014905 (2012).
M. Stephanov, Phys. Rev. D 65, 096008 (2002).
L. Du, Phys. Lett. B 874, 140225 (2026).
D. Everett et al. (JETSCAPE Collaboration), Phys. Rev. C 103, 054904 (2021).
J. Adam et al. (STAR Collaboration), Phys. Rev. C 99, 044918 (2019).
M. I. Abdulhamid et al. (STAR Collaboration), Nature (London) 635, 67 (2024).
S. S. Adler et al. (PHENIX Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 092301 (2004).
B. E. Aboona et al. (STAR Collaboration), Rep. Prog. Phys. 88, 108601 (2025).
B. B. Abelev et al. (ALICE Collaboration), Eur. Phys. J. C 74, 3077 (2014).
G. Aad et al. (ATLAS Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 252301 (2024).
L. Stodolsky, Phys. Rev. Lett. 75, 1044 (1995).
E. Shuryak, Phys. Lett. B 423, 9 (1998).
R.-X. Cao, S. Zhang, and Y.-G. Ma, Phys. Rev. C 106, 014910 (2022).
J. Chen, W.-j. Fu, S. Yin, and C. Zhang, Phys. Rev. D 114, 014064 (2026).
S. Jeon and V. Koch, Event-by-event fluctuations, in Quark-Gluon Plasma 3 (World Scientific, Singapore, 2004).
S. Basu, S. Chatterjee, R. Chatterjee, T. K. Nayak, and B. K. Nandi, Phys. Rev. C 94, 044901 (2016).
F. G. Gardim, A. V. Giannini, and J.-Y. Ollitrault, Phys. Lett. B 856, 138937 (2024).
Y.-S. Mu, J.-A. Sun, L. Yan, and X.-G. Huang, Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 162301 (2025).
A. Sorensen et al., Prog. Part. Nucl. Phys. 134, 104080 (2024).
L.-M. Liu, J. Chen, X.-G. Huang, J. Jia, C. Shen, and C. Zhang, arXiv:2511.11094.
K. H. Ackermann et al. (STAR Collaboration), Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res., Sect. A 499, 624 (2003).
F. Shen, S. Wang, F. Kong, S. Bai, C. Li, F. Videbæk, Z. Xu, C. Zhu, Q. Xu, and C. Yang, Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res., Sect. A 896, 90 (2018).
M. L. Miller, K. Reygers, S. J. Sanders, and P. Steinberg, Annu. Rev. Nucl. Part. Sci. 57, 205 (2007).
W. J. Llope (STAR Collaboration), Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res., Sect. A 661, S110 (2012).
X. Luo, Phys. Rev. C 91, 034907 (2015); 94, 059901(E) (2016).
V. Fine, Y. Fisyak, V. Perevoztchikov, and T. Wenaus, Comput. Phys. Commun. 140, 76 (2001).
R. Barlow, arXiv:hep-ex/0207026.
See Supplemental Material at http://link.aps.org/supplemental/10.1103/2xsn-rgx3 for details on the effect of frame of reference, centrality bin width effect and quantifying non-monotonicity, including Ref. [51].
X. Luo, J. Xu, B. Mohanty, and N. Xu, J. Phys. G 40, 105104 (2013).
V. Kovalenko and V. Vechernin, J. Phys. Conf. Ser. 798, 012053 (2017).
S. Acharya et al. (ALICE Collaboration), Phys. Lett. B 850, 138541 (2024).
S. Bhatta, C. Zhang, and J. Jia, Phys. Rev. C 105, 024904 (2022).
J. Jia, S. Huang, and C. Zhang, Phys. Rev. C 105, 014906 (2022).
M. Kitazawa, S. Esumi, T. Niida, and T. Nonaka, Prog. Theor. Exp. Phys. 2026, 043D05 (2026).
B. Schenke, C. Shen, and D. Teaney, Phys. Rev. C 102, 034905 (2020).
G. Aad et al. (ATLAS Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 032301 (2026).
S. Acharya et al. (ALICE Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 032302 (2026).
D. Adamova et al. (CERES Collaboration), Nucl. Phys. A811, 179 (2008).
M. Abdel-Aziz and S. Gavin, Nucl. Phys. A774, 623 (2006).
Z. Sweger, D. Cebra, and X. Dong, Phys. Rev. C 111, 034902 (2025).
M. J. Tannenbaum, Phys. Lett. B 498, 29 (2001).
T. A. Trainor, Phys. Rev. C 92, 024915 (2015).
L. Zhang, J. Chen, and C. Zhang, Phys. Rev. C 111, 024911 (2025).
Z.-W. Lin, C. M. Ko, B.-A. Li, B. Zhang, and S. Pal, Phys. Rev. C 72, 064901 (2005).
S. Gavin, G. Moschelli, and C. Zin, Phys. Rev. C 95, 064901 (2017).
S. Borsanyi, Z. Fodor, J. N. Guenther, P. Parotto, A. Pasztor, C. Ratti, V. Vovchenko, and C. H. Wong, Phys. Rev. D 112, L111505 (2025).
10.17182/hepdata.181421.v1.

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 132301– Published 22 September, 2026

Vol. 137, Iss. 13 — 25 September 2026

Received 8 April 2026
Revised 1 July 2026
Accepted 13 July 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/2xsn-rgx3

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society

Physical Review Letters

Reuse & Permissions

Export citation

Export citation

Nonmonotonicity of Transverse Momentum Correlations in $Au + Au$ Collisions at RHIC

Abstract

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

Supplemental Material

References (69)

Outline

Information

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation

Nonmonotonicity of Transverse Momentum Correlations in Au+Au Collisions at RHIC

Abstract

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

Supplemental Material

References (69)

Nonmonotonicity of Transverse Momentum Correlations in $Au + Au$ Collisions at RHIC