Charged hadron transverse momentum distributions in Au plus Au collisions at √sNN=200 GeV

We present transverse momentum distributions of charged hadrons produced in Au + Au collisions at roots(NN) = 200 GeV. The spectra were measured for transverse momenta p(T) from 0.25 to 4.5 GeV/c in a pseudorapidity range of 0.2 < 17 < 1.4. The evolution of the spectra is studied as a function of collision centrality, from 65 to 344 participating nucleons. The results are compared to data from proton-antiproton collisions and Au + An collisions at lower RHIC energies. We find a significant change of the spectral shape between proton-antiproton and semi-peripheral Au + Au collisions. Comparing semi-peripheral to central Au + Au collisions, we find that the yields at high p(T) exhibit approximate scaling with the number of participating nucleons, rather than scaling with the number of binary collisions. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier B.V.