Abstract
Elliptic flow from nuclear collisions is a hadronic observable sensitive to the early stages of system evolution. We report first results on elliptic flow of charged particles at midrapidity in collisions at using the STAR Time Projection Chamber at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The elliptic flow signal, , averaged over transverse momentum, reaches values of about for relatively peripheral collisions and decreases for the more central collisions. This can be interpreted as the observation of a higher degree of thermalization than at lower collision energies. Pseudorapidity and transverse momentum dependence of elliptic flow are also presented.
- Received 13 September 2000
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.402
©2001 American Physical Society