Elliptic Flow: A Study of Space-Momentum Correlations In Relativistic Nuclear Collisions

Abstract

Here I review measurements of v2, the second component in a Fourier decomposition of the azimuthal dependence of particle production relative to the reaction plane in heavy-ion collisions. v2 is an observable central to the interpretation of the subsequent expansion of heavy-ion collisions. Its large value indicates significant space-momentum correlations, consistent with the rapid expansion of a strongly interacting Quark Gluon Plasma. Data is reviewed for collision energies from sqrt[sNN] = 2 to 200 GeV. Scaling observations and comparisons to hydrodynamic models are discussed.

53 pages, 37 figures, a review article written for the QGP4 book edited by Rudy Hwa and Xin-Nian Wang (more minor updates, typos, and updated references)

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Cited by in corpus (15)

• Measurement with the ATLAS detector of multi-particle azimuthal correlations in p+Pb collisions at sqrt(s_NN)=5.02 TeV
• Elliptic flow of identified hadrons in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=$ 7.7--62.4 GeV
• Bulk Viscosity and Cavitation in Boost-Invariant Hydrodynamic Expansion
• Measurement of flow harmonics with multi-particle cumulants in Pb+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=2.76$ TeV with the ATLAS detector
• The Present and Future of QCD
• Small x physics and RHIC data
• The QCD phase diagram and Beam Energy Scan physics: a theory overview
• Harmonic decomposition of three-particle azimuthal correlations at RHIC
• Strange hadron production in heavy ion collisions from SPS to RHIC
• Beam energy dependence of Elliptic and Triangular flow with the AMPT model
• Dilepton Radiation from Strongly Interacting Systems
• Effect of nonflow and flow fluctuations on elliptic flow methods
• Exploring the different phase diagrams of Strong Interactions
• Detecting a First-Order Transition in the QCD Phase Diagram with Baryon-Baryon Correlations
• The elliptic flow of multi-strange hadrons in $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV Au + Au collisions at STAR