Suppression of Hadrons with Large Transverse Momentum in Central [Formula presented] Collisions at [Formula presented]

Abstract

Transverse momentum spectra for charged hadrons and for neutral pions in the range [Formula presented] have been measured by the PHENIX experiment at RHIC in [Formula presented] collisions at [Formula presented]. At high [Formula presented] the spectra from peripheral nuclear collisions are consistent with scaling the spectra from [Formula presented] collisions by the average number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions. The spectra from central collisions are significantly suppressed when compared to the binary-scaled [Formula presented] expectation, and also when compared to similarly binary-scaled peripheral collisions, indicating a novel nuclear-medium effect in central nuclear collisions at RHIC energies. © 2002 The American Physical Society.