Resonance decay effects on anisotropy parameters

Abstract

We present the elliptic flow $v_2$ of pions produced from resonance decays. The transverse momentum $p_T$ spectra of the parent particles are taken from thermal model fits and their $v_2$ are fit under the assumption that they follow number-of-constituent-quark (NCQ) scaling expected from quark-coalescence models. The $v_2$ of pions from resonance particle decays is found to be similar to the measured pion $v_2$. We also propose the measurement of electron $v_2$ as a means to extract open-charm $v_2$ and investigate whether a thermalized system of quarks and gluons (a quark-gluon plasma) is created in collisions of Au nuclei at RHIC.

5 pages, 4 figures