Elliptic flow fluctuations in 200 GeV Au+Au collisions at RHIC

Abstract

We present first results on event-by-event elliptic flow fluctuations in Au+Au collisions at 200 GeV obtained with the PHOBOS detector. Over the measured range in centrality, large relative fluctuations of 40--50% are found. The elliptic flow fluctuations are well described as being proportional to fluctuations in the shape of the initial collision region, as estimated event-by-event with the participant eccentricity using Glauber Monte Carlo.