Probe the QCD phase boundary with elliptic flow in relativistic heavy ion collisions at STAR

We present measurement of elliptic flow, $v_2$, for charged and identified particles at midrapidity in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 7.7 - 39 GeV. We compare the inclusive charged hadron $v_2$ to those from transport model calculations, such as UrQMD model, AMPT default model and AMPT string-melting model. We discuss the energy dependence of the difference in $v_2$ between particles and anti-particles. The $v_2$ of $\phi$ meson is observed to be systematically lower than other particles in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 11.5 GeV.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, the proceedings of the 7th International Workshop on Critical Point and Onset of Deconfinement (CPOD2011

STAR Highlights on Heavy Ion Physics

RHIC-STAR is a mid-rapidity collider experiment for studying high energy nuclear collisions. The main physics goals of STAR experiment are 1) studying the properties of the strongly coupled Quark Gluon Plasma, 2) explore the QCD phase diagram structure. In these proceedings, we will review the recent results of heavy ion physics at STAR.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures. The proceedings of ICNFP201