Measurement of Charge Multiplicity Asymmetry Correlations in High Energy Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions at 200 GeV

A study is reported of the same- and opposite-sign charge-dependent azimuthal correlations with respect to the event plane in Au+Au collisions at 200 GeV. The charge multiplicity asymmetries between the up/down and left/right hemispheres relative to the event plane are utilized. The contributions from statistical fluctuations and detector effects were subtracted from the (co-)variance of the observed charge multiplicity asymmetries. In the mid- to most-central collisions, the same- (opposite-) sign pairs are preferentially emitted in back-to-back (aligned on the same-side) directions. The charge separation across the event plane, measured by the difference, \(\Delta\), between the like- and unlike-sign up/down \(-\) left/right correlations, is largest near the event plane. The difference is found to be proportional to the event-by-event final-state particle ellipticity (via the observed second-order harmonic \(v^{\rm obs}_{2}\)), where \(\Delta=(1.3\pm1.4({\rm stat})^{+4.0}_{-1.0}({\rm syst}))\times10^{-5}+(3.2\pm0.2({\rm stat})^{+0.4}_{-0.3}({\rm syst}))\times10^{-3}v^{\rm obs}_{2}\) for 20-40% Au+Au collisions. The implications for the proposed chiral magnetic effect are discussed.