Speaker
Description
Collective effects have been observed in a variety of small collision systems; however, their physical origin remains an open question. Extending such studies to lower collision energies than those explored at the LHC is essential for discriminating among competing theoretical explanations. This work presents the first measurement of two-particle correlation functions in proton--proton collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 200$~GeV. The correlation function is measured as a function of relative pseudorapidity and azimuthal angle using electromagnetic calorimeter and silicon tracking data collected by the sPHENIX experiment. Fourier coefficients of the correlation functions are extracted and studied relative to their values in the lowest event-activity class to investigate their evolution with event activity and harmonic order. The data are compared to Pythia simulations, which do not include collective effects. These measurements aim to assess the extent to which the observed correlation patterns can be described by non-collective processes and to test the applicability of non-flow subtraction methods at RHIC energies.
| Is this an experimental talk? | Yes |
|---|---|
| Is this on behalf of a collaboration? | Yes |
| Which collaboration? | sPHENIX |
| Are you willing to present as a poster if it is not selected for oral presentation? | Yes |