Charged particle flow measurement for $|η|<5.3$ with the PHOBOS detector

Abstract

The measurement of elliptic flow for charged particles in Au-Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}} = 130$ GeV using the PHOBOS detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) is presented. Charge particle distributions over a wide pseudo-rapidity region ($|η|<5.3$) are measured by the PHOBOS silicon multiplicity detectors. These distributions are used to extract the final-state azimuthal anisotropy. The centrality and pseudo-rapidity dependences of elliptic flow, averaged over momenta on an event-by-event basis and particle species, are discussed.