Correlative degree and collective sideward flow of final state particles in high energy heavy ion collisions

A concept of correlative degree is proposed in this paper. Using the method of particle-group correlation's function, the effects of the particles wit h different correlative degrees on collective sideward flow are studied for 1.2A GeV Ar + BaI2 collisions at the Bevalac stream chamber. Our studies i ndicate that correlative degree is an important parameter on describing col lective sideward flow properties. The minority of correlative particles (or fragments) with larger correlative degrees can produce the effect arising from the collective sideward flow, but the effect arising from high-order c ollective flow correlations can not be dominated by these minority of parti cles (or fragments). It is results from the collective contribution of the majority of collective particles (or fragments) with various correlative de grees.