Determination of the reaction plane in ultrarelativistic nuclear collisions

Abstract

In the particles produced in a nuclear collision undergo collective flow, the reaction plane can in principle be determined through a global event analysis. We show here that collective flow can be identified by evaluating the reaction plane independently in two separate rapidity intervals, and studying the correlation between the two results. We give an analytical expression for the correlation function between the two planes as a function of their relative angle. We also discuss how this correlation function is related to the anisotropy of the transverse momentum distribution. Email contact: [e-mail]