Identified particle measurements at large transverse momenta in Cu+Cu collisions at RHIC

Differential measurements of various particle species over an extended momentum range provide a sensitive experimental tool for investigation of energy loss mechanisms in the medium created in nucleus-nucleus collisions at RHIC. In these proceedings, a systematic study of transverse momentum spectra for charged pions, protons and antiprotons from Cu+Cu data at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$GeV as a function of collision centrality will be presented. Such systematic studies provide additional insights into the interplay between fragmentation and non-fragmentation contributions to the particle production. To investigate system size effects on energy loss, a comparison of top energy results for Cu+Cu and Au+Au collision systems are made.