Net charge fluctuations in Au + Au interactions at √SNN = 130 GeV

Data from Au + Au interactions at s N N = 130 GeV, obtained with the PHENIX detector at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider, are used to investigate local net charge fluctuations among particles produced near midrapidity.According to recent suggestions, such fluctuations may carry information from the quark-gluon plasma. This analysis shows that the fluctuations are dominated by a stochastic distribution of particles, but are also sensitive to other effects, like global charge conservation and resonance decays.