J/ψ Production Relative to the Reaction Plane in Pb-Pb Collisions at 158 GeV/n

J/ψ production in Pb-Pb collisions at 158 A GeV/c as a function of the J/ψ azimuthal angle relative to the reaction plane has been studied for the first time. Different cc¯ absorption mechanisms are expected to introduce anisotropy in the J/ψ azimuthal distributions at SPS energies. The present analysis has been performed on the data sample collected in year 2000 by the NA50 Collaboration. The reaction plane is estimated from the azimuthal distribution of the neutral transverse energy seen in the electromagnetic calorimeter. The results of this study are presented here expressed as number of J/ψ's in different bins of azimuthal angle relative to the reaction plane as well as Fourier coefficients v1′ and v2′ (uncorrected for event plane resolution).