Anisotropic flow of protons and negative pions in $4.2A\mathrm{GeV}/c$ $\mathrm{C}+\mathrm{Ta}$ collisions is studied using the Fourier analysis of azimuthal distributions. The protons exhibit pronounced directed flow. Directed flow of pions is positive in the entire rapidity interval and indicates that the pions are preferentially emitted in the reaction plane from the target to the projectile. The elliptic flow of protons and negative pions is close to zero. Comparison with the quark-gluon-string model and relativistic transport model show that they both yield a flow signature similar to the experimental data.

• Received 14 November 2002

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.67.017902