Third harmonic flow of charged particles in Au + Au collisions at √sNN=200 GeV

Abstract

We report measurements of the third harmonic coefficient of the azimuthal anisotropy, v3, known as triangular flow. The analysis is for charged particles in Au+Au collisions at √sNN=200 GeV, based on data from the STAR experiment at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. Two-particle correlations as a function of their pseudorapidity separation are fit with narrow and wide Gaussians. Measurements of triangular flow are extracted from the wide Gaussian, from two-particle cumulants with a pseudorapidity gap, and also from event plane analysis methods with a large pseudorapidity gap between the particles and the event plane. These results are reported as a function of transverse momentum and centrality. A large dependence on the pseudorapidity gap is found. Results are compared with other experiments and model calculations. © 2013 American Physical Society.