Removing Distortions from Charge Balance Functions

Abstract

Charge balance functions provide insight into critical issues concerning hadronization and transport in heavy-ion collisions by statistically isolating charge/anti-charge pairs which are correlated by charge conservation. However, distortions from residual interactions and unbalanced charges cloud the observable. Within the context of simple models, the significance of these effects is studied by constructing balance functions in both relative rapidity and invariant relative momentum. Methods are presented for eliminating or accounting for these distortions.

14 pages, 6 figures