Event by Event Methods for Identification of Direct Photon-Hadron Correlations at RHIC

Direct photon - hadron pair correlations serve as an excellent probe of the hot and dense medium created in the heavy ion collision at RHIC. Application of event-by-event based methods such as isolation cuts that would reject background photons are challenging in high multiplicity events for the relatively low photon energies statistically achievable at RHIC. We present some analysis techniques to deal with these challenges, and the status of possible application of these techniques within the PHENIX experiment.