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Main Authors: Shen, Shui-Fa, Ye, Chong, Wen, Dan, Bao, Lina, Li, Jin, Xing, Yutao, Jiang, Jiaming, Qian, Wei-Liang
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.05737
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author Shen, Shui-Fa
Ye, Chong
Wen, Dan
Bao, Lina
Li, Jin
Xing, Yutao
Jiang, Jiaming
Qian, Wei-Liang
author_facet Shen, Shui-Fa
Ye, Chong
Wen, Dan
Bao, Lina
Li, Jin
Xing, Yutao
Jiang, Jiaming
Qian, Wei-Liang
contents In this study, we employ the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) to investigate the relationship between initial-state fluctuations and final-state anisotropies in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. The granularity of the initial state, reflecting fluctuations in the initial conditions (IC), is modeled using a peripheral tube model. Besides differential flow, our analysis focuses on a class of more sensitive observables known as flow factorization. Specifically, we evaluate these observables using MLE, an asymptotically normal and unbiased tool in standard statistical inference. Our findings show that the resulting differential flow remains essentially unchanged for different IC defined by the peripheral tube model. The resulting harmonic coefficients obtained using MLE and multi-particle cumulants are found to be consistent. However, the calculated flow factorizations show significant variations depending on both the IC and the estimators, which is attributed to their sensitivity to initial-state fluctuations. Thus, we argue that MLE offers a compelling alternative to standard methods such as multi-particle correlators, particularly for sensitive observables constructed from higher moments of the azimuthal distribution.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_05737
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle An MLE analysis on the relationship between the initial-state granularity and final-state flow factorization
Shen, Shui-Fa
Ye, Chong
Wen, Dan
Bao, Lina
Li, Jin
Xing, Yutao
Jiang, Jiaming
Qian, Wei-Liang
Nuclear Theory
In this study, we employ the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) to investigate the relationship between initial-state fluctuations and final-state anisotropies in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. The granularity of the initial state, reflecting fluctuations in the initial conditions (IC), is modeled using a peripheral tube model. Besides differential flow, our analysis focuses on a class of more sensitive observables known as flow factorization. Specifically, we evaluate these observables using MLE, an asymptotically normal and unbiased tool in standard statistical inference. Our findings show that the resulting differential flow remains essentially unchanged for different IC defined by the peripheral tube model. The resulting harmonic coefficients obtained using MLE and multi-particle cumulants are found to be consistent. However, the calculated flow factorizations show significant variations depending on both the IC and the estimators, which is attributed to their sensitivity to initial-state fluctuations. Thus, we argue that MLE offers a compelling alternative to standard methods such as multi-particle correlators, particularly for sensitive observables constructed from higher moments of the azimuthal distribution.
title An MLE analysis on the relationship between the initial-state granularity and final-state flow factorization
topic Nuclear Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.05737