Relativistic Heavy Ion Physics: Transverse Energy

By colliding heavy nuclei at relativistic velocities, the resulting increase in temperature and density of the collision volume can cause a phase transition of the nuclear matter to what is called a quark-gluon plasma. Several experiments to observe the behavior of this phase occur at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) in New York. As an effect of the collision, many particles are ejected transversely to the beam axis. The energy these particles carry is referred to as transverse energy. Measurements of the transverse energy can be used to estimate the density of the nuclear matter in the collision zone. I will describe calculating the transverse energy obtained from previously calculated data from the STAR detector employing a novel method using identified charged particle spectra. The results will be compared to measurements by the PHENIX experiment, which is also a detector at RHIC, using a different method for extracting the transverse energy to better understand any systematic bias between them.