Elliptic flow from color strings

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that elliptic flow in high-energy collisions can be effectively modeled using color string fusion and percolation, with particle quenching being the dominant anisotropy source.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach to describe elliptic flow through color string dynamics, emphasizing the role of particle quenching over string propagation.

Findings

Particle quenching dominates elliptic flow at accessible energies.

Color string fusion and percolation successfully reproduce observed flow patterns.

Anisotropy from string propagation is less significant.

Abstract

It is shown that the elliptic flow can be successfully described in the color string picture with fusion and percolation provided anisotropy of particle emission from the fused string is taken into account. Two possible sources of this anisotropy are considered, propagation of the string in the transverse plane and quenching of produced particles in the strong color field of the string. Calculations show that the second source gives an overwhelming contribution to the flow at accessible energies.