Identified charged particle azimuthal anisotropy in PHENIX at RHIC

Abstract

We present here v$_2$ of identified and inclusive charged particles measured in the PHENIX central arm detector ($|\eta| < 0.35$) with respect to the reaction plane defined at $|\eta| = 3 \sim 4$ in 200 GeV Au+Au collisions. We find that v$_2$ increases from central to mid-central collisions reaching a maximum at about 50% of the geometric cross section and then decreases again for more peripheral collisions. As a function of transverse momentum in minimum-bias collisions, the v$_2$ parameter increases linearly with p$_{\rm T}$ up to p$_{\rm T}$ $\simeq$ 2 GeV/c and then saturates for inclusive charged particles. The v$_2$ parameter of identified particles ($\pi^+$, $\pi^-$, $K^+$, $K^-$, $p$ and $\bar{p}$) follow a hydro-dynamic behavior up to 2 GeV/c in p$_{\rm T}$, where the lighter mass particles have larger v$_2$ at a given p$_{\rm T}$. However there is an indication that this trend is reversed at around p$_{\rm T}$ $\simeq$ 2 GeV/c, where $p$ and $\bar{p}$ have larger v$_2$ than $\pi$ and $K$.