Elliptic flow from two- and four-particle correlations in Au + Au collisions at s(NN)**(1/2) = 130-GeV.

The STAR collaboration Adler, C. ; Ahammed, Z. ; Allgower, C. ; et al.
Phys.Rev.C 66 (2002) 034904, 2002.
Inspire Record 587825 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.98926

Elliptic flow holds much promise for studying the early-time thermalization attained in ultrarelativistic nuclear collisions. Flow measurements also provide a means of distinguishing between hydrodynamic models and calculations which approach the low density (dilute gas) limit. Among the effects that can complicate the interpretation of elliptic flow measurements are azimuthal correlations that are unrelated to the reaction plane (non-flow correlations). Using data for Au + Au collisions at sqrt{s_{NN}} = 130 GeV from the STAR TPC, it is found that four-particle correlation analyses can reliably separate flow and non-flow correlation signals. The latter account for on average about 15% of the observed second-harmonic azimuthal correlation, with the largest relative contribution for the most peripheral and the most central collisions. The results are also corrected for the effect of flow variations within centrality bins. This effect is negligible for all but the most central bin, where the correction to the elliptic flow is about a factor of two. A simple new method for two-particle flow analysis based on scalar products is described. An analysis based on the distribution of the magnitude of the flow vector is also described.

30 data tables

Correlation between the event plane angles determined from pairs of subevents partitioned randomly (circles), partitioned with opposite signs of pseudorapidity (squares) and partitioned with opposite signs of charge (crosses). The correlation is plotted as a function of centrality, namely, charged particle multiplicity $n_{ch}$ divided by the maximum observed charged multiplicity, $n_{max}$.

The event plane resolution for full events as a function of centrality, using randomly partitioned subevents with (circles) and without (triangles) $p_{t}$ weight.

Elliptic flow signal $v_{2}$ as a function of centrality, from study of the correlation between particle pairs consisting of randomly chosen particles (circles), particles with opposite signs of charge (crosses), particles with the same signs of charge (triangles), and particles with opposite signs of pseudorapidity (squares).

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Flow measurements via two-particle azimuthal correlations in Au + Au collisions at s(NN)**(1/2) = 130-GeV.

The PHENIX collaboration Adcox, K. ; Adler, S.S. ; Ajitanand, N.N. ; et al.
Phys.Rev.Lett. 89 (2002) 212301, 2002.
Inspire Record 585347 DOI 10.17182/hepdata.141931

Two particle azimuthal correlation functions are presented for charged hadrons produced in Au + Au collisions at RHIC sqrt(s_NN) = 130 GeV. The measurements permit determination of elliptic flow without event-by-event estimation of the reaction plane. The extracted elliptic flow values v_2 show significant sensitivity to both the collision centrality and the transverse momenta of emitted hadrons, suggesting rapid thermalization and relatively strong velocity fields. When scaled by the eccentricity of the collision zone, epsilon, the scaled elliptic flow shows little or no dependence on centrality for charged hadrons with relatively low p_T. A breakdown of this epsilon scaling is observed for charged hadrons with p_T > 1.0 GeV/c for the most central collisions.

8 data tables

Azimuthal correlation functions for charged hadrons as a function of centrality and $p_T$ selection. The solid curves represent Fourier fits following Eq. (2). Error bars are statistical only.

$v_2$ vs. centrality for several $p_T$ selections. [F] and [A] indicate results obtained with the fixed-$p_T$ and assorted-$p_T$ methods respectively. Systematic errors are estimated to be $\sim 5$%; they are dominated by the normalization of the correction function for real tracks. For the centrality range 0-5%, the data points are statistically uncertain and the points are omitted.

$v_2$ vs. centrality for several $p_T$ selections. [F] and [A] indicate results obtained with the fixed-$p_T$ and assorted-$p_T$ methods respectively. Systematic errors are estimated to be $\sim 5$%; they are dominated by the normalization of the correction function for real tracks. For the centrality range 0-5%, the data points are statistically uncertain and the points are omitted.

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