Spectra of identified high-pt pi +- and p(p) in Cu+Cu Collisions at sqrt sNN = 200 GeV/c

We report new results on identified (anti)proton and charged pion spectra at large transverse momenta (3 < p{sub T} < 10 GeV/c) from Cu+Cu collisions at {radical}s{sub NN} = 200 GeV using the STAR detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). This study explores the system size dependence of two novel features observed at RHIC with heavy ions: the hadron suppression at high-p{sub T} and the anomalous baryon to meson enhancement at intermediate transverse momenta. Both phenomena could be attributed to the creation of a new form of QCD matter. The results presented here bridge the system size gap between the available pp and Au+Au data, and allow for a detailed exploration of the onset of the novel features. Comparative analysis of all available 200 GeV data indicates that the system size is a major factor determining both the magnitude of the hadron spectra suppression at large transverse momenta and the relative baryon to meson enhancement.