Thermal photon $v_3$ at LHC from fluctuating initial conditions

Abstract

We calculate the triangular flow parameter $v_3$ of thermal photons for 0--40\% central collisions of Pb nuclei at LHC using an event-by-event hydrodynamic model with fluctuating initial conditions. Thermal photon $v_3$ with respect to the the participant plane angle is found to be positive and significant compared to the elliptic flow parameter $v_2$ of thermal photons. In addition, photon $v_3$ as a function of $p_T$ shows similar qualitative nature to photon $v_2$ in the region $1< p_T <6$ GeV/$c$. We argue that while $v_3$ originates from $\epsilon_3$ deformations of the initial state density distribution, fast buildup of radial flow due to fluctuations is the main driving mechanism for the observed large value.