Using the RQMD model, transverse momentum dependence of the anisotropic flow v2 for [pi], K, nucleon, [phi], and [lambda], are studied for Au + Au collisions at √s{sub NN} = 200 GeV. Both hydrodynamic hadron-mass hiragracy (hhmh) at low p{sub T} region and particle type dependence (baryon versus meson) at the intermediate p{sub T} region are reproduced with the model calculations although the model underpredicted the overall values of v2 by a factor of 2-3. As expected, when the rescatterings are turned off, all v2 becomes zero. The failure of the hadronic model in predicting the absolute values of hadron v2 clearly demonstrate the need of early dense partonic interaction in heavy-ion collisions at RHIC. At the intermediate p{sub T}, the hadron type dependence cold also be explained by the vacume hadronic cross sections within the frame of the model. The measurements of collective motion of hadrons from high-energy nuclear collisions can provide information on the dynamical equation of state information of the system [1, 2, 3]. Specifically, the strange and multi-strange hadron flow results have demonstrated the partonic collectivity [5] and the heavy-flavor flow will test the hypothesis of early thermalization in such collisions [4]. At RHIC, the measurements [6, 7] of elliptic flow v2 and nuclear modification factor r{sub AA} has lead to the conclusion that hadrons were formed via the coalescence/recombination of massive quarks [8, 9, 10]. This finding is directly related to the key issue in high-energy nuclear collisions such as deconfinement and chiral symmetry restoration. In addition, it also touched the important problem of hadronization process in high-energy collisions. Therefore a systematic study with different approaches becomes necessary. In this report, using a hadronic transport model UrQMD(v2.2)/RQMD(v2.4) [11, 12], we study the v2 of [pi], K, p, [phi], and [Lambda] from Au + Au collisions at 200 GeV. Properties of centrality dependent and freeze-out time dependent will be discussed. We try to answer some specific questions like how much the observed features can be reproduced by the hadronic model and why. In this approach, the vacumme cross sections are used for strong interactions. Unlike the treatment in most hydrodynamic calculations, the transition from strong interaction and free-steaming is determined by the local density and gradual. As we will discuss in the paper, the shortcoming of this method is lack of the partonic interactions which is important for the early dynamics in ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions [13]. In order to take care of both partonic and hadronic interactions in high-energy nuclear collisions, a combination of hydrodynamic model for early stage (the perfect fluid stage) and hadronic transport model for later stage and freeze-out has been tried [14, 15].

Measurements of collective flow and two-particle correlations have proven to be effective tools for understanding the properties of the system produced in ultrarelativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). Accurate modeling of the initial conditions of a heavy ion collision is crucial in the interpretation of these results. The anisotropic shape of the initial geometry of heavy ion collisions with finite impact parameter leads to an anisotropic particle production in the azimuthal direction through collective flow of the produced medium. In "head-on" collisions of Copper nuclei at ultrarelativistic energies, the magnitude of this "elliptic flow" has been observed to be significantly large. This is understood to be due to fluctuations in the initial geometry which leads to a significant anisotropy even for most central Cu+Cu collisions. This thesis presents a phenomenological study of the effect of initial geometry fluctuations on two-particle correlations and an experimental measurement of the magnitude of elliptic flow fluctuations which is predicted to be large if initial geometry fluctuations are present. Two-particle correlation measurements in Au+Au collisions at the top RHIC energies have shown that after correction for contributions from elliptic flow, strong azimuthal correlation signals are present at A0 = 0 and A0 ~ 120. These correlation structures may be understood in terms of event-by-event fluctuations which result in a triangular anisotropy in the initial collision geometry of heavy ion collisions, which in turn leads to a triangular anisotropy in particle production. It is observed that similar correlation structures are observed in A Multi-Phase Transport (AMPT) model and are, indeed, found to be driven by the triangular anisotropy in the initial collision geometry. Therefore "triangular flow" may be the appropriate description of these correlation structures in data. The measurement of elliptic flow fluctuations is complicated by the contributions of statistical fluctuations and other two-particle correlations (non-flow correlations) to the observed fluctuations in azimuthal particle anisotropy. New experimental techniques, which crucially rely on the uniquely large coverage of the PHOBOS detector at RHIC, are developed to quantify and correct for these contributions. Relative elliptic flow fluctuations of approximately 30-40% are observed in 6-45% most central Au+Au collisions at s NN= 200 GeV. These results are consistent with the predicted initial geometry fluctuations.

The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) has provided its experiments with the most energetic nucleus-nucleus collisions ever achieved in a laboratory. These collisions allow for the study of the properties of nuclear matter at very high temperature and energy density, and may uncover new forms of matter created under such conditions. This thesis presents measurements of the elliptic flow amplitude, v2, in Au+Au collisions at RHIC's top center of mass energy of 200 GeV per nucleon pair. Elliptic flow is interesting as a probe of the dynamical evolution of the system formed in the collision. The elliptic flow dependences on transverse momentum, centrality, and pseudorapidity were measured using data collected by the PHOBOS detector during the 2001 RHIC run. The reaction plane of the collision was determined using the multiplicity detector, and the azimuthal angles of tracks reconstructed in the spectrometer were then correlated with the found reaction plane. The v2 values grow almost linearly with transverse momentum, up to P[sub]T of approximately 1.5 GeV, saturating at about 14%. As a function of centrality, v2 is minimum for central events, as expected from geometry, and increases up to near 7% (for 0

The results from the STAR Collaboration on directed flow (v1), elliptic flow (v2), and the fourth harmonic (v4) in the anisotropic azimuthal distribution of particles from Au+Au collisions at (square root)s{sub NN} = 200 GeV are summarized and compared with results from other experiments and theoretical models. Results for identified particles are presented and fit with a Blast Wave model. For v2, scaling with the number of constituent quarks and parton coalescence is discussed. For v4, scaling with v22 and quark coalescence predictions for higher harmonic flow is discussed. The different anisotropic flow analysis methods are compared and nonflow effects are extracted from the data. For v2, scaling with the number of constituent quarks and parton coalescence are discussed. For v22 and quark coalescence are discussed.

Excited nuclear matter at high temperature and density results in the creation of a new state of matter called Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP). It is believed that the Universe was in the QGP state a few millionths of a second after the Big Bang. A QGP can be experimentally created for a very brief time by colliding heavy nuclei, such as gold, at ultra-relativistic energies. The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory consists of two circular rings, 3.8 km in circumference, which can accelerate heavy nuclei in two counter-rotating beams to nearly the speed of light (up to 100 GeV per beam). STAR (Solenoidal Tracker At RHIC) is one of two large detectors at the RHIC facility, and was constructed and is operated by a large international collaboration made up of more than 500 scientists from 56 institutions in 12 countries. STAR has been taking data from heavy ion collisions since the year 2000. An important component of the physics effort of the STAR collaboration is the Beam Energy Scan (BES), designed to study the properties of the Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) phase diagram in the regions where a first-order phase transition and a critical point may exist. Phase-I of the BES program took data in 2010, 2011 and 2014, using Au+Au collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of 7.7, 11.5, 14.5, 19.6, 27 and 39 GeV. It is by now considered a well-established fact that the QGP phase exists. However, all evidence so far indicates that there is a smooth crossover when normal hadronic matter becomes QGP and vice versa in collisions at the top energy of RHIC (and likewise at the Large Hadron Collider at the CERN laboratory in Switzerland). At these very high energies, the net density of baryons like nucleons is quite low, since there are almost equal abundances of baryons and antibaryons. It is known that net-baryon compression increases as the beam energy is lowered below a few tens of GeV. Of course, if the beam energy is too low, then the QGP phase cannot be produced at all, so it has been proposed that there is an optimum beam energy, so far unknown, where phenomena like a first-order phase transition and a critical point might be observed. On the other hand, there also exists the possibility that a smooth crossover to QGP occurs throughout the applicable region of the QCD phase diagram. Experiments are needed to resolve these questions. In this dissertation, I focus on one of the main goals of the BES program, which is to search for a possible first-order phase transition from hadronic matter to QGP and back again, using measurements of azimuthal anisotropy. The momentum-space azimuthal anisotropy of the final-state particles from collisions can be expressed in Fourier harmonics. The first harmonic coefficient is called directed flow, and reflects the strength of the collective sideward motion, relative to the beam direction, of the particles. Models tell us that directed flow is imparted during the very early stage of a collision and is not much altered during subsequent stages of the collision. Thus directed flow can provide information about the early stages when the QGP phase exists for a short time. A subset of hydrodynamic and nuclear transport model calculations with the assumption of a first-order phase transition show a prominent dip in the directed flow versus beam energy. I present directed flow and its slope with respect to rapidity, for identified particle types, namely lambda, anti-lambda and kaons as a function of beam energy for central, intermediate and peripheral collisions. The production threshold of neutral strange particles requires them to be created earlier, and these particles have relatively long mean free path. Thus these particles may probe the QGP at earlier times. In addition, new Lambda measurements can provide more insight about baryon number transported to the midrapidity region by stopping process of the nuclear collision. It is noteworthy that net-baryon density (equivalent to baryon chemical potential) depends not only on beam energy but also on collision centrality. The centrality dependence of directed flow and its slope are also studied for all BES energies for nine identified particle types, lambda, anti-lambda, neutral kaons, charged kaons, protons, anti-protons, and charged pions. These detailed results for many particle species, where both centrality and beam energy are varied over a wide range, strongly constrain models. The measurements summarized above pave the way for a new round of model refinements and subsequent comparisons with data. If the latter does not lead to a clear conclusion, the BES Phase-II program will take data in 2019 and 2020 with an upgraded STAR detector with wider acceptance, greatly improved statistics, and will extend measurements to new energy points.

We present the first measurements of identified hadron production, azimuthal anisotropy, and pion interferometry from Au+Au collisions below the nominal injection energy at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC) facility. The data were collected using the large acceptance STAR detector at (square root)s{sub NN} = 9.2 GeV from a test run of the collider in the year 2008. Midrapidity results on multiplicity density (dN/dy) in rapidity (y), average transverse momentum (p{sub T}), particle ratios, elliptic flow, and HBT radii are consistent with the corresponding results at similar (square root)s{sub NN} from fixed target experiments. Directed flow measurements are presented for both midrapidity and forward rapidity regions. Furthermore the collision centrality dependence of identified particle dN/dy, p{sub T}, and particle ratios are discussed. These results also demonstrate that the capabilities of the STAR detector, although optimized for (square root)s{sub NN} = 200 GeV, are suitable for the proposed QCD critical point search and exploration of the QCD phase diagram at RHIC.