Initial fluctuations and power spectrum of flow anisotropies in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

Abstract

Flow has emerged as a crucial probe for the properties of the thermalized medium produced in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. The evolution of initial state fluctuations leaves imprints on the power spectrum of flow coefficients. Therefore, flow coefficients are a crucial probe of initial state fluctuations arising from the parton distributions of the colliding nuclei. This has a very strong correspondence with the physics of power spectrum of cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) anisotropies which directly probes initial inflationary fluctuations. Much work has been done to probe these interesting interconnections, in particular, in developing techniques for the measurements of higher flow coefficients. We present a short review of these developments. The effect of initial magnetic field on these features will also be reviewed. All this acquires special importance in view of upcoming electron-ion collider which will directly probe initial parton distribution of the colliding nucleus.