Two-particle correlations on transverse momentum: an untapped resource for studying relativistic heavy-ion collision dynamics

Abstract

Two-particle correlation projections onto two-dimensional transverse momentum coordinates (pt1, pt2) allow access to properties of the relativistic heavy-ion collision system which are complementary to that studied using angular correlations. Examples include the degree of thermal equilibration and the variance of dynamical fluctuations in hard-scattering processes. Results for minimum-bias Au + Au collisions at √sNN = 200 are presented, with the structures described by two phenomenological models. The correlations structures and extracted physical quantities are then compared to theoretical predictions. Conclusions from these comparisons regarding global equilibration, fluctuations in soft and semi-hard QCD processes, and the effects of the hot, dense collision medium are presented.