Elliptic flow from final state interactions in the distorted-wave emission-function model

Abstract

The effect of final state interactions on the elliptic flow coefficient measured in relativistic heavy ion collisions is investigated within the distorted-wave emission-function (DWEF) formalism established by G. A. Miller and J. G. Cramer [Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 102302 (2005); J. Phys. G. 34, 703 (2007); Phys. Rev. C 78, 054905 (2008)]. It is found that the optical potential previously found to give the best fit of particle multiplicity and Hanbury Brown and Twiss radii in BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider events has a moderate effect on the resulting elliptic flow coefficient v{sub 2}. This indicates that final state interactions should be taken into account to confidently predict v{sub 2} to better than {approx}20% accuracy.