Identified Charged-Hadron Production in P + Al, 3he+au, and Cu Plus V Au Collisions at √snn=200 GeV and in U Plus U Collisions at √snn=193 GeV

The PHENIX experiment has performed a systematic study of identified charged-hadron ( p +/-, K +/-, p, p) production at midrapidity in p + Al, He-3+Au, and Cu + Au collisions at root s(NN) = 200 GeV and U + U collisions at root s(NN) = 193 GeV. Identified charged-hadron invariant transverse-momentum (p(T)) and transverse-mass (m(T)) spectra are presented and interpreted in terms of radially expanding thermalized systems. The particle ratios of K/ p and p/ p have been measured in different centrality ranges of large (Cu + Au and U + U) and small ( p + Al and He-3+Au) collision systems. The values of K/pi ratios measured in all considered collision systems were found to be consistent with those measured in p + p collisions. However, the values of p/pi ratios measured in large collision systems reach the values of approximate to 0.6, which is a factor of approximate to 2 larger than in p + p collisions. These results can be qualitatively understood in terms of the baryon enhancement expected from hadronization by recombination. Identified charged-hadron nuclear-modification factors (R-AB) are also presented. Enhancement of proton R-AB values over meson RAB values was observed in central He-3+Au, Cu + Au, and U + U collisions. The proton R-AB values measured in the p + Al collision system were found to be consistent with R-AB phi values of phi, pi(+/-), K-+/-, and pi(0) mesons, which may indicate that the size of the system produced in p + Al collisions is too small for recombination to cause a noticeable increase in proton production.