Manifestation of proton structure in the initial-state anisotropies in high-energy proton-proton collisions

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the internal structure of protons influences initial-state anisotropies in high-energy proton-proton collisions, using phenomenological models and Monte Carlo simulations to connect proton structure to observable collective effects.

Contribution

It introduces new phenomenological models of proton structure and demonstrates how event multiplicity dependence can distinguish between these models in collision data.

Findings

Different proton models produce distinct anisotropy patterns.

Event multiplicity dependence can discriminate between proton structure models.

Initial anisotropies are sensitive to proton internal configurations.

Abstract

Ridge-like correlations in high-energy proton-proton collisions reported by the CMS collaboration suggest a collective flow that resembles the one in heavy-ion collisions. If the hydrodynamic description is valid then the effect results from the initial anisotropy of the colliding matter which depends on the structure of protons. Following recent theoretical developments, we propose several phenomenological models of the proton structure and calculate the anisotropy coefficients using the Monte Carlo Glauber model. Our estimates suggest that the event multiplicity dependence allows one to discriminate between different proton models.