Higher-order moments of the elliptic flow distribution in PbPb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV

Abstract

A preprint version of the article is available at arXiv:2311.11370v2 [nucl-ex], https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.11370 . Comments: Replaced with the published version. Added the journal reference and the DOI. All the figures and tables can be found at https://cms-results.web.cern.ch/cms-results/public-results/publications/HIN-21-010 (CMS Public Pages).The hydrodynamic flow-like behavior of charged hadrons in high-energy lead-lead collisions is studied through multiparticle correlations. The elliptic anisotropy values based on different orders of multiparticle cumulants, v2{2k}, are measured up to the tenth order (k = 5) as functions of the collision centrality at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of √sNN = 5.02 TeV. The data were recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 0.607 nb−1. A hierarchy is observed between the coefficients, with v2{2}>v2{4}≳v2{6}≳v2{8}≳v2{10}. Based on these results, centrality-dependent moments for the fluctuation-driven event-by-event v2 distribution are determined, including the skewness, kurtosis and, for the first time, superskewness. Assuming a hydrodynamic expansion of the produced medium, these moments directly probe the initial-state geometry in high-energy nucleus-nucleus collisions.SCOAP3