Measurements of transverse energy distributions in Au+Au collisions at √s_NN=200 GeV 054907

Transverse energy (E_T) distributions have been measured for Au+Au collisions at √s_NN=200 GeV by the STAR Collaboration at RHIC. ET is constructed from its hadronic and electromagnetic components, which have been measured separately. ET production for the most central collisions is well described by several theoretical models whose common feature is large energy density achieved early in the fireball evolution. The magnitude and centrality dependence of ET per charged particle agrees well with measurements at lower collision energy, indicating that the growth in ETfor larger collision energy results from the growth in particle production. The electromagnetic fraction of the total ET is consistent with a final state dominated by mesons and independent of centrality.