J/psi and psi' produced in high-energy heavy-ion collisions are absorbed by their collisions with nucleons and produced soft particles, leading to two distinct absorption mechanisms. The signature of absorption by produced soft particles, as revealed by psi' production data, consists of a gap and a change of the slope in going from the pA line to the nucleus-nucleus line when we make a semi-log plot of the survival probability as a function of the path length. Using this signature, we find from the J/psi production data in pA, O-Cu, O-U, and S-U collisions that the degree of J/psi absorption by produced soft particles is small and cannot account for the J/psi data in Pb-Pb collisions. The anomalous suppression of J/psi production in Pb-Pb collisions can be explained as due to the occurrence of a new phase of strong J/psi absorption, which sets in when the local energy density exceeds about 3.4 GeV/fm3. To probe the chemical content of the new phase, we propose to study the abundance of open-charm mesons and charm hyperons which depends sensitively on the quark chemical potential.

J/psi and psi ̀produced in high-energy heavy-ion collisions are absorbed by their collisions with nucleons and produced soft particles, leading to two distinct absorption mechanisms. The signature of absorption by produced soft particles, as revealed by psi ̀production data, consists of a gap and a change of the slope in going from the pA line to the nucleus-nucleus line when we make a semi-log plot of the survival probability as a function of the path length. Using this signature, we find from the J/psi production data in pA, O-Cu, O-U, and S-U collisions that the degree of J/psi absorption by produced soft particles is small and cannot account for the J/psi data in Pb-Pb collisions. The anomalous suppression of J/psi production in Pb-Pb collisions can be explained as due to the occurrence of a new phase of strong J/psi absorption, which sets in when the local energy density exceeds about 3.4 GeV/fm3. To probe the chemical content of the new phase, we propose to study the abundance of open-charm mesons and charm hyperons which depends sensitively on the quark chemical potential.

The level of 'anomalous' charmonium suppression in high-energy heavy-ion collisions and its interpretation as a signal of quark-gluon plasma formation requires a robust understanding of charmonium production and absorption in proton-nucleus collisions. In a previous study we have shown that, contrary to common belief, the so-called J/[psi] 'absorption cross section', [sigma]{sub abs}{sup J/[psi]}, is not a 'universal constant' but, rather, an effective parameter that depends very significantly on the charmonium rapidity and on the collision energy. Here we present ugraded Glauber calculations with the EPS09 parameterization of nuclear modifications of the parton densities. We confirm that the effective 'absorption cross section' depends on the J/{psi} kinematics and the collision energy. We also make further steps towards understanding the physics of the mechanisms behind the observed 'cold nuclear matter' effects.

The anomalous suppression of J/[psi] production in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 GeV observed by the NA50 Collaboration can be explained as due to the occurrence of a new phase of strong J/[psi] absorption, which sets in when the local energy density exceeds about 3.4 GeV/fm[sup 3]. The peculiar behavior of the[psi][sup']/[psi] ratio in[ital p]-A and nucleus-nucleus collisions can be understood as due to approximately equal[psi]-N and[psi][sup']-N absorption cross sections, but greater absorption cross sections for[psi][sup'] than J/[psi] with regard to absorption by soft particles and matter in the new phase.

The authors review the search for the quark-gluon plasma using the signal of the suppression of J/[psi] production in high-energy heavy-ion collisions. Recent anomalous J/[psi] suppression in high-energy Pb-Pb collisions observed by the NA50 Collaboration are examined and compared with earlier results from pA and nucleus-nucleus collisions with heavy ions of smaller mass numbers. The anomalous suppression of J/[psi] production in Pb-Pb collisions can be explained as due to the occurrence of a new phase of strong J/[psi] absorption, which sets in when the number of nucleon-nucleon collisions at a spatial point exceeds about 4 and corresponds to a local energy density of about 3.4 GeV/fm3.

FNAL E866/NuSea has made a number of measurements of J/[psi] and[psi][prime] production by 800 GeV protons on fixed targets of Be, Fe and W. Preliminary results are presented and discussed in the context of nuclear effects such as energy loss and multiple scattering of the partons, absorption of the produced c[bar c] pairs, and shadowing. Production mechanisms involving color-singlet or color-octet states for the c[bar c] pair which eventually forms a J/[psi] or[psi][prime] have implications on the strength of absorption in the nucleus. These nuclear dependence studies arc critical in furthering the authors understanding of these processes towards future measurements at RHIC and the LHC, where J/[psi] suppression is predicted to be an important signature of the creation of quark-gluon plasma in heavy-ion collisions.