The balance function is a new observable based on the principle that charge is locally conserved when particles are pair produced. Balance functions have been measured for charged particle pairs and identified charged pion pairs in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 130 GeV at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider using STAR. Balance functions for peripheral collisions have widths consistent with model predictions based on a superposition of nucleon-nucleon scattering. Widths in central collisions are smaller, consistent with trends predicted by models incorporating late hadronization.
The balance function versus ∆η for charged particle pairs from a) central and peripheral Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 130 GeV and mixed events from central and peripheral Au+Au collisions, and b) HIJING events filtered with GEANT [16] and shuffled pseudorapidity events from central and peripheral Au+Au collisions. To guide the eye, Gaussian fits excluding the lowest bin in ∆η are shown. The error bars shown are statistical. The balance function for HIJING events is independent of centrality.
The balance function versus ∆η for charged particle pairs from a) central and peripheral Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 130 GeV and mixed events from central and peripheral Au+Au collisions, and b) HIJING events filtered with GEANT [16] and shuffled pseudorapidity events from central and peripheral Au+Au collisions. To guide the eye, Gaussian fits excluding the lowest bin in ∆η are shown. The error bars shown are statistical. The balance function for HIJING events is independent of centrality.
The width of the balance function for charged particles, $⟨\Delta \eta⟩$, as a function of normalized impact parameter $(b/b_{max})$. Error bars shown are statistical. The width of the balance function from HIJING events is shown as a band whose height reflects the statistical uncertainty. Also shown are the widths from the shuffled pseudorapidity events.
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