PHENIX and the Reaction Plane: Recent Results

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent PHENIX experiment results on the reaction plane in RHIC collisions, providing insights into the quark-gluon plasma's properties and collision dynamics through various observables.

Contribution

It presents new reaction plane measurements from PHENIX that enhance understanding of the collision dynamics and the properties of the dense partonic medium.

Findings

Evidence of collective flow consistent with hydrodynamic models

Jet quenching patterns aligned with reaction plane orientation

Insights into the initial geometry and medium response

Abstract

During the past several years, experiments at RHIC have established that a dense partonic medium is produced in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s)=200 GeV. Subsequently, a primary goal of analysis has been to understand and characterize the dynamics underlying this new form of matter. Among the many probes available, the measurements with respect to the reaction plane has proven to be crucial to our understanding of a wide range of topics, from the hydrodynamics of the initial expansion of the collision region to high-pt jet quenching phenomena. Few tools have the ability to shed light on such a wide variety of observables as the reacion plane. In this article, we discuss recent PHENIX measurements with respect to the reaction plane, and the implications for understanding the underlying physics of RHIC collisions.