Momentum anisotropy in nuclear collisions from quantum mechanics

Abstract

We point out that the intrinsic relationship between space and momentum in quantum physics through the uncertainty principle has potential implications for momentum anisotropy in heavy-ion collisions. Using a harmonic oscillator potential we calculate the elliptic anisotropy and find it to be sizeable compared to elliptic flow measurements in nuclear collisions. Our results question the validity of the completely hydrodynamic interpretation of anisotropic flow data, and highlight the importance of including quantum physics in hydrodynamic calculations which has largely been neglected so far.