Relative flow fluctuations as a probe of initial state fluctuations

2017/02/28 by Giuliano Giacalone, Jacquelyn Noronha-Hostler, Jean-Yves Ollitrault · 82 citations
Engineering · Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Algorithm #Environmental science #Flow (mathematics) #Gas Dynamics and Kinetic Theory #High-Energy Particle Collisions Research #Mathematics #Mechanics #Nuclear reactor physics and engineering #Physics #State (computer science) #Statistical physics #hep-ph #nucl-ex #nucl-th

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevc.95.054910

published in Physical Review C 95(5) (American Institute of Physics) · v1: 10 pages, 7 figures. v2: published version. Added predictions of rcBK model in Fig.2. Data tables available in ancillary files

openalex publication_date 2017/05/18 · arxiv created 2017/05/24 · arxiv updated 2017/05/25 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06

Abstract

Elliptic flow, v₂, and triangular flow, v₃, are to a good approximation linearly proportional to the corresponding spatial anisotropies of the initial density profile, \ensuremathε₂ and \ensuremathε₃. Using event-by-event hydrodynamic simulations, we point out when deviations from this linear scaling are to be expected. When these deviations are negligible, relative v_n fluctuations are equal to relative \ensuremathε_n fluctuations, and one can directly probe models of initial conditions using ratios of cumulants, for instance v_n4/v_n2. We argue that existing models of initial conditions tend to overestimate flow fluctuations in central Pb + Pb collisions, and to underestimate them in peripheral collisions. We make predictions for v₃6 in noncentral Pb + Pb collisions, and for v₃4 and v₃6 in high-multiplicity p+Pb collisions.

Citations

• Effects of viscosity on the mapping of initial to final state in heavy ion collisions
• Effect of shear viscosity on spectra, elliptic flow, and Hanbury Brown–Twiss radii
• Elliptic flow in the Gaussian model of eccentricity fluctuations
• Event-by-event simulation of the three-dimensional hydrodynamic evolution from flux tube initial conditions in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions
• System Size, Energy, Pseudorapidity, and Centrality Dependence of Elliptic Flow
• Shear Viscosity of Strongly CoupledN<mml:mspace/>=<mml:mspace/>4Supersymmetric Yang-Mills Plasma
• Glauber Modeling in High-Energy Nuclear Collisions