Title:
        "Determination of elliptic flow and other properties of charged
kaons in relativistic Au+Au collisions using decay-topology identification."
                                                                                
                                                                                
Abstract:
                                                                                
The goal of this project is to measure charged kaon elliptic flow in
heavy ion collisions and discuss if the results are suggestive of quark
gluon plasma (QGP) production.  This project was carried out at the
Solenoidal Tracker at RHIC (STAR) in conjunction with the Relativistic
Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC).  It is believed that the energy range at the
RHIC complex is sufficient to generate a QGP state of matter.
                                                                                
Elliptic flow corresponds to the second harmonic coefficient (v2) of a
Fourier decomposition of the transverse momentum distribution of emitted
particles.  This project uses a topological method to identify decaying
charged kaons up to momenta ~ 4 GeV/c up from only ~600 MeV/c using more
conventional techniquies.  The topological method has the drawback of
relatively low efficiency, which decreases with increasing momentum.
                                                                                
The dependence of elliptic flow on transverse momentum is highly
significant when different particle types can be compared. The data for
charged kaons falls into a pattern where there is a universal curve for
the amount of flow per constituent quark as a function of the quark's
transverse momentum. This universal curve can account for the flow
observed for all known particle types. It suggests that the collective
motion must have been imparted during the early phase of the collision
when a QGP state existed.  These results are encouraging and consistent
with QGP formation.