We present a general method for taking into account correlations due to momentum conservation in the analysis of anisotropic flow, either by using the two-particle correlation method or the standard flow-vector method. In the latter, the correlation between the particle and the flow vector is either corrected through a redefinition (shift) of the flow vector, or subtracted explicitly from the observed flow coefficient. In addition, momentum conservation contributes to the reaction plane resolution. Momentum conservation mostly affects the first harmonic in azimuthal distributions, i.e., directed flow. It also modifies higher harmonics, for instance, elliptic flow, when it is measured with respect to a first harmonic event plane such as the one determined with the standard transverse momentum method. Our method is illustrated by application to NA49 data on pion directed flow.

• Received 6 February 2002

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.66.014901