Flow measurements via two-particle azimuthal correlations in Au + Au collisions √SNN = 130 GeV

Abstract

The elliptic flow measurements via two-particle azimuthal correlations in Au + Au collisions at the relativistic heavy ion collider were studied. These measurements allowed to obtain the elliptic flow without event-by-event estimation of the reaction plane. It was found that the elliptic flow showed significant senstivity to both the collision centrality and the transverse momenta of emitted hadrons, suggesting rapid thermalization and strong velocity fields.