What can we learn from high-$p_T$ azimuthal correlations of neutral strange baryons and mesons at RHIC energy ?

Jana Bielcikova

Azimuthal correlations of particles with large transverse momentum ($p_T$) are commonly used to study jet related processes in high energy heavy-ion collisions. Identified two-particle correlations are expected to provide additional information on jet quenching, the baryon-meson puzzle and particle production mechanisms at RHIC energies. We present studies of correlations of neutral strange baryons ($\Lambda$,$\bar{\Lambda}$) and mesons (K$_S0$) for $p_T$=2-6 GeV/$c$ associated with non-identified charged particles in d+Au and Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$~=~200~GeV measured by the STAR experiment. We investigate in detail possible flavor, baryon/meson and particle/antiparticle differences by studying the associated yield of charged particles as a function centrality of the collision, transverse momentum of trigger and associated particles as well as the fragmentation variable $z_T$. We compare our results to the proton and pion triggered correlations as well as to fragmentation and recombination models.