Initial-State Bremsstrahlung versus Final-State Hydrodynamic Sources of Azimuthal Harmonics in p+A at RHIC and LHC

Abstract

Recent pT<2~GeV azimuthal correlation data from the Beam Energy Scan (BES) and D+Au runs at RHIC/BNL and, especially, the surprising similarity of azimuthal $v_n\{2m\}(p_T)$ ``transeverse flow'' harmonics in $p+Pb$ and $Pb+Pb$ at LHC have challenged the uniqueness of local equilibrium ``perfect fluid'' interpretations of those data. We report results at QM14 on azimuthal harmonics associated with initial-state non-abelian ``wave interference'' effects predicted by perturbative QCD gluon bremsstrahlung and sourced by Color Scintillation Arrays (CSA) of color antennas. CSA are naturally identified with multiple projectile and target beam jets produced in inelastic p+A reactions. We find a remarkable similarity between azimuthal harmonics sourced by initial state CSA and those predicted with final state perfect fluid models of high energy p+A reactions. The question of which mechanism dominates in $p+A$ and $A+A$ remains open at this time.