%0 Journal Article
%T The gluon plasma at RHIC
%A Denes Molnar
%J Physics
%D 2001
%I arXiv
%X Differential elliptic flow and particle spectra are calculated from covariant Boltzmann transport theory taking into account the finite transport opacity of the gluon plasma produced in Au+Au at $E_{cm}\sim 130$ $A$ GeV at RHIC. The solutions are shown to depend mainly on the transport opacity, $\chi=\int dz \sigma_t\rho_g$. The elliptic flow saturation pattern reported by STAR indicates that $\chi_{b=0} \sim 25$, i.e., the gluon plasma is $\sim 80$ times more opaque than the pQCD estimate based on HIJING. Such large opacities are also consistent with the measured charged hadron spectra.
%U http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-ph/0111401v1