Buda-Lund hydro model for ellipsoidally symmetric fireballs and the elliptic flow at RHIC

The ellipsoidally symmetric extension of Buda-Lund hydrodynamic model is shown here to yield a natural description of the pseudorapidity dependence of the elliptic flow $v_2(\eta)$, as determined recently by the PHOBOS experiment for Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 130$ and 200 GeV. With the same set of parameters, the Buda-Lund model describes also the transverse momentum dependence of $v_2$ of identified particles at mid-rapidity. The results confirm the indication for quark deconfinement in Au+Au collisions at RHIC, obtained from a successful Buda-Lund hydro model fit to the single particle spectra and two-particle correlation data, as measured by the BRAHMS, PHOBOS, PHENIX and STAR collaborations.