Imprinting Quantum Fluctuations on Hydrodynamic Initial Conditions

TL;DR

This paper investigates how quantum gluonic fluctuations influence the initial energy profile in heavy-ion collisions, revealing a significant impact on eccentricity coefficients depending on correlation length and saturation momentum.

Contribution

It introduces a toy model to quantify the effect of gluonic fluctuations on initial conditions in heavy-ion collisions, extending previous covariance-based analyses.

Findings

Gluonic fluctuations can increase eccentricity coefficients by 10-20% in central collisions.

The impact varies strongly with correlation length and saturation momentum.

Estimated effects are relevant for RHIC Au-Au collision initial conditions.

Abstract

Starting from the two-point covariance function derived in [1], we have developed a toy model to investigate the effect of gluonic fluctuations on the transverse energy profile predicted by MC-KLN Color-Glass Condensate initial conditions. We find that the effect of these fluctuations on the eccentricity harmonics varies strongly with the correlation length and consequently the value of the fixed saturation momentum Qs used in [1]. Using approximate values for the minimum and maximum saturation momenta probed at RHIC in Au-Au collisions, we estimate the increase in the eccentricity coefficients resulting from gluonic fluctuations is as large as 10 to 20 percent in central collisions.