Higher harmonic anisotropic flow measurements of charged particles at 2.76 TeV with the ALICE detector

TL;DR

This paper reports measurements of elliptic, triangular, and quadrangular flow of charged particles in Pb--Pb collisions at 2.76 TeV, showing that flow patterns relate to initial spatial anisotropy and fluctuations.

Contribution

First measurements of higher harmonic flow coefficients at 2.76 TeV with ALICE, linking flow to initial geometry and fluctuations.

Findings

Elliptic and triangular flow can be explained by initial spatial anisotropy.

Flow fluctuations are consistent with initial geometry fluctuations.

Higher harmonic flows provide insight into the initial state of heavy-ion collisions.

Abstract

We report the measurements of elliptic flow $v_{2}$, as well as higher harmonics triangular flow $v_{3}$ and quadrangular flow $v_{4}$, in $\sqrt{s_{_{NN}}} =$ 2.76 TeV Pb--Pb collisions, measured with the ALICE detector. We show that the measured elliptic and triangular flow can be understood from the initial spatial anisotropy and its event--by--event fluctuations. The resulting fluctuations of $v_{2}$ and $v_{3}$ are also discussed.