PHENIX flow results from the d+Au beam energy scan

Abstract

The appearance of flow signatures, typically associated with the formation of a Quark Gluon Plasma, in small collision systems was a surprise to many in the community. Experimental measurements of elliptic anisotropy, now in p/d/3He+Au collisions at RHIC and p+Pb collisions at the LHC, have been well described by both hydrodynamic models and models involving parton transport. To help investigate how these signals arise, RHIC delivered a beam energy scan of d+Au collision in 2016. PHENIX has measured the azimuthal anisotropy using event plane and multiparticle cumulant methods at the four collision energies and find nonzero signals at even the lowest collision energy of GeV. This presentation will discuss the results, comparisons to theoretical models, and their implications for our understanding of how these signals arise in small collision systems.