Elastic parton scattering and non-statistical event-by-event mean-p(t) fluctuations in Au + Au collisions at RHIC

Nonstatistical event-by-event mean-p(t) fluctuations in Au+Au collisions at root s(NN) = 130 and 200 GeV are analyzed in the multiphase transport model (AMPT) with string melting, and the results are compared with STAR data. The analysis suggests that in-medium elastic parton scattering may contribute greatly to the mean-pt fluctuations in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that nonstatistical event-by-event mean-p(t) fluctuations can be used to probe the initial partonic dynamics in these collisions. The comparison shows that with an in-medium elastic parton-scattering cross section sigma(p) = 10 mb, AMPT with string melting can well reproduce root s(NN) = 130 GeV data on the centrality dependence of nonstatistical event-by-event mean-p(t) fluctuations. The comparison also shows that the fluctuation data for root s(NN) = 200 GeV Au+Au collisions can be well reproduced with sigma(p) between 6 and 10 mb.