Explaining Angular Correlations Observed at RHIC with Flow and Local Charge Conservation

Abstract

The observation of fluctuations of parity-odd angular observables at RHIC has been interpreted as a signal of a local parity violation. We show how the observed signal can be explained by local charge conservation at freeze-out combined with elliptic flow. Calculations from a blast wave model, which overlays thermal emission onto a collective flow profile, are shown to account for the experimentally observed signal.