Event-by-event hydrodynamics and elliptic flow from fluctuating initial state

Abstract

We develop a framework for event-by-event ideal hydrodynamics to study the differential elliptic flow which is measured at different centralities in Au+Au collisions at Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). Fluctuating initial energy density profiles, which here are the event-by-event analogues of the eWN profiles, are created using a Monte Carlo Glauber model. Using the same event plane method for obtaining $v_2$ as in the data analysis, we can reproduce both the measured centrality dependence and the $p_T$ shape of charged-particle elliptic flow up to $p_T\sim 2$~GeV. We also consider the relation of elliptic flow to the initial state eccentricity using different reference planes, and discuss the correlation between the physical event plane and the initial participant plane. Our results demonstrate that event-by-event hydrodynamics with initial state fluctuations must be accounted for before a meaningful lower limit for viscosity can be obtained from elliptic flow data.

10 pages, 7 figures; v2: figures updated and v2{PP} results added

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Cited by in corpus (7)

• 200 A GeV Au+Au collisions serve a nearly perfect quark-gluon liquid
• Hadron spectra and elliptic flow for 200 A GeV Au+Au collisions from viscous hydrodynamics coupled to a Boltzmann cascade
• Directed flow at mid-rapidity in event-by-event hydrodynamics
• Constraining the initial state granularity with bulk observables in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=200$ GeV
• Initial eccentricity fluctuations and their relation to higher-order flow harmonics
• Enhancement of thermal photon production in event-by-event hydrodynamics
• Heavy Ion Initial Conditions and Correlations Between Higher Moments in the Spatial Anisotropy