Time Evolution of Thermal Photon Elliptic Flow

Abstract

Elliptic flow of thermal photons has a great potential to explore the early time dynamics and evolution of Quark Gluon Plasma. $p_T$ dependent temporal contours for photon spectra and elliptic flow from quark matter and hadronic phases, as well as the $p_T$ integrated results show gradual build-up of flow with time and relative contributions from different phases to that very clearly. Unlike hadrons, photon flow is quite sensitive to the initial thermalization time $\ddot{I}{„}_0$, and its value can be estimated with the experimental determination of $v_2$.

3 pages, To appear in the proceedings of the 18th Particle and Nuclei International Conference (PANIC08), Eilat, Israel, 9-14 Nov 2008