Relating eccentricity fluctuations to density fluctuations in heavy-ion collisions

Abstract

The magnitude of anisotropic flow in a nucleus-nucleus collision is determined by the energy density field, $\rho(x,y,z)$, created right after the collision occurs. Specifically, elliptic flow, $v_2$, and triangular flow, $v_3$, are proportional to the anisotropy coefficients $\varepsilon_2$ and $\varepsilon_3$, which are functionals of $\rho$. We express the mean and the variance of $\varepsilon_2$ and $\varepsilon_3$ as a function of the 1- and 2-point functions of $\rho$. These results generalize results obtained previously, that were valid only for central collisions, or only for identical point-like sources. We apply them to the color glass condensate effective theory, using the recently derived expression of the 2-point function.