Collectivity in Small QCD Systems

Abstract

Features of collectivity observed in high energy A+A collision systems at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) imply a strongly coupled quark gluon plasma (QGP) that flows. One defining feature of collectivity is long-range angular correlations which are characterized experimentally by measuring the azimuthal anisotropy of particles well separated in rapidity. Evidence indicating long-range angular correlations include the appearance of the so-called near-side "ridge" in correlation functions and $p_T$ dependent flow components ($v_N$). These features have been well measured at RHIC for Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} $= 200 GeV and at the LHC for Pb+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV. However, evidence of collectivity has recently been observed at the LHC in p+p high multiplicity collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 7.0 TeV and p+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV and then at RHIC in d+Au and $3^He$+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV. In this talk, we present the recent PHENIX results for d+Au and $^3He$+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV. Precise measurements of anisotropy help distinguish between theoretical models based on relativistic hydrodynamics or Color Glass Condensate (CGC). Comparisons of these measurements to various theoretical models are shown.