Elliptic flow from event-by-event hydrodynamics with fluctuating initial state

TL;DR

This paper presents an event-by-event hydrodynamical model incorporating initial state fluctuations to accurately compare elliptic flow ($v_2$) with experimental data, demonstrating the participant plane as a good approximation for the event plane.

Contribution

The study introduces a novel event-by-event ideal hydrodynamical framework with initial fluctuations and a flow analysis method aligned with experimental procedures.

Findings

Participant plane closely approximates the event plane.

Model successfully reproduces measured $v_2$ data.

Fluctuations significantly impact elliptic flow analysis.

Abstract

We develop an event-by-event ideal hydrodynamical framework where initial state density fluctuations are present and where we use a similar flow-analysis method as in the experiments to make a one-to-one $v_2$ comparison with the measured data. Our studies also show that the participant plane is quite a good approximation for the event plane.