Elliptic Flow in Pb+Pb Collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV at the LHC Using Boltzmann Transport Equation with Non-extensive Statistics

TL;DR

This paper models elliptic flow in Pb+Pb collisions at LHC energies using a Boltzmann Transport Equation approach with non-extensive statistics for initial conditions and a blast wave model for equilibrium, successfully describing experimental data.

Contribution

It introduces a novel combination of non-extensive statistics and Boltzmann Transport Equation to analyze elliptic flow in heavy-ion collisions, extending previous models.

Findings

Successfully describes $v_2$ for identified particles across $p_T$ range

Integrates non-extensive initial conditions with kinetic evolution

Matches experimental spectra and flow data

Abstract

Elliptic flow in heavy-ion collisions is an important signature of a possible de-confinement transition from hadronic phase to partonic phase. In the present work, we use non-extensive statistics, which has been used for transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) distribution in proton+proton ($p+p$) collisions, as the initial particle distribution function in Boltzmann Transport Equation (BTE). A Boltzmann-Gibbs Blast Wave (BGBW) function is taken as an equilibrium function to get the final distribution to describe the particle production in heavy-ion collisions. In this formalism, we try to estimate the elliptic flow in Pb+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV at the LHC for different centralities. The elliptic flow ($v_2$) of identified particles seems to be described quite well in the available $p_{\rm T}$ range. An approach, which combines the non-extensive nature of particle production in $p+p$ collisions through an evolution in kinetic theory using BTE, with BGBW equilibrium distribution is successful in describing the spectra and elliptic flow in heavy-ion collisions.