"Figure 13, table(bottom)" of "Measurements of $\phi$ meson production in relativistic heavy-ion collisions at RHIC"

BNL-RHIC. We present results for the measurement of $\phi$ meson production via its charged kaon decay channel $\phi$ → $K^{+}K^{-}$ in Au + Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 62.4, 130,$ and $200 GeV$, and in p + p and d + Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200 GeV$ from the STAR experiment at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The midrapidity (|y| < 0.5) $\phi$ meson transverse momentum ($p_{T}$) spectra in central Au + Au collisions are found to be well described by a single exponential distribution. On the other hand, the $p_{T}$ spectra from p + p, d + Au, and peripheral Au + Au collisions show power-law tails at intermediate and high pT and are described better by Levy distributions. The constant $\phi/K^{-}$ yield ratio vs beam species, collision centrality, and colliding energy is in contradiction with expectations from models having kaon coalescence as the dominant mechanism for $\phi$ production at RHIC. The $\Omega/\phi$ yield ratio as a function of $p_{T}$ is consistent with a model based on the recombination of thermal s quarks up to $p_{T}$ ∼ 4 GeV/c, but disagrees at higher transverse momenta. The measured nuclear modification factor, RdAu, for the $\phi$ meson increases above unity at intermediate $p_{T}$ , similar to that for pions and protons, while $R_{AA}$ is suppressed due to the energy loss effect in central Au + Au collisions. Number of constituent quark scaling of both $R_{cp}$ and $v_{2}$ for the $\phi$ meson with respect to other hadrons in Au + Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200 GeV$ at intermediate $p_{T}$ is observed. These observations support quark coalescence as being the dominant mechanism of hadronization in the intermediate $p_{T}$ region at RHIC.