Article

Event-by-event fluctuations of azimuthal particle anisotropy in Au+Au collisions at square root(sNN) = 200 GeV.

Laboratory for Nuclear Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139-4307, USA.
Physical Review Letters (impact factor: 7.37). 04/2010; 104(14):142301. pp.142301
Source: PubMed

ABSTRACT This Letter presents the first measurement of event-by-event fluctuations of the elliptic flow parameter v(2) in Au+Au collisions at square root(s(NN))=200 GeV as a function of collision centrality. The relative nonstatistical fluctuations of the v(2) parameter are found to be approximately 40%. The results, including contributions from event-by-event elliptic flow fluctuations and from azimuthal correlations that are unrelated to the reaction plane (nonflow correlations), establish an upper limit on the magnitude of underlying elliptic flow fluctuations. This limit is consistent with predictions based on spatial fluctuations of the participating nucleons in the initial nuclear overlap region. These results provide important constraints on models of the initial state and hydrodynamic evolution of relativistic heavy ion collisions.

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Keywords

Au+Au collisions
 
azimuthal correlations
 
collision centrality
 
constraints
 
contributions
 
elliptic flow fluctuations
 
elliptic flow parameter v(2)
 
event-by-event elliptic flow fluctuations
 
event-by-event fluctuations
 
hydrodynamic evolution
 
initial nuclear overlap region
 
initial state
 
Letter presents
 
nonflow correlations
 
predictions
 
reaction plane
 
relative nonstatistical fluctuations
 
relativistic heavy ion collisions
 
spatial fluctuations