Correlation of flow harmonics and mean transverse momentum in 5.02 TeV p+Pb and Pb+Pb collisions and event-plane dependence of HBT radii in high-multiplicity p+Pb collisions with the ATLAS detector

Abstract

To assess the properties of the quark-gluon plasma formed in heavy ion collisions, correlations between the mean transverse momentum, [pT], and the magnitude of the flow harmonics, νn, are measured by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. The analysis uses data samples of Pb+Pb and p+Pb collisions at sNN=5.02TeV, corresponding to integrated luminosities of 22 μb−1 and 28 nb−1, respectively. The correlations are measured using a modified Pearson coefficient that is independent of multiplicity fluctuations. To suppress any short-range correlations, the [pT] is measured at mid-rapidity and the flow harmonics are measured at forward rapidity. In Pb+Pb collisions, significant (non-zero) values of the correlation coefficients are observed for all studied harmonics, which show a strong centrality dependence but vary only weakly with the charged particle pT range used in the measurement. On the other hand, in p+Pb collisions, the correlation coefficient measured for the 2nd harmonic is found to show only a weak centrality dependence. The predictions of a 3+1D viscous-hydrodynamic model are found to be qualitatively consistent with the data, indicating hydrodynamic origin of these correlations in p+Pb collisions. As an independent test for the hydrodynamic description of collectivity observed in p+Pb collisions, measurements of two-pion HBT correlations as a function of the angle of the pion pair with respect to the second-order event plane angle are presented. The HBT correlation functions, corrected for event plane resolution, are measured as a function of qout, qside and qlong in intervals of pair transverse momentum and second-order flow-vector magnitude. The correlation functions are fit using the Bowler-Sinyukov form with the exponential HBT correlation function. The extracted HBT radii, Rout, Rside and Rlong and a significant out-side cross-term are found to exhibit significant modulation with respect to the second-order event plane, similar to that observed in heavy-ion collisions. Results of the measurements and physics implications of the result, will be discussed.