We study effects of eccentricity fluctuations on the elliptic flow coefficient v_2 at mid-rapidity in both Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions at sqrt{s_{NN}}=200 GeV by using a hybrid model that combines ideal hydrodynamics for space-time evolution of the quark gluon plasma phase and a hadronic transport model for the hadronic matter. We find that the effect of eccentricity fluctuation is modest in semicentral Au+Au collisions but significantly enhances v_2 in Cu+Cu collisions.
We study effects of eccentricity fluctuations on the elliptic flow coefficient v_2 at mid-rapidity in both Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions at sqrt{s_NN}=200 GeV by using a hybrid model that combines ideal hydrodynamics for space-time evolution of the quark gluon plasma phase and a hadronic transport model for the hadronic matter. For initial conditions in hydrodynamic simulations, both the Glauber model and the color glass condensate model are employed to demonstrate the effect of initial eccentricity fluctuations originating from the nucleon position inside a colliding nucleus. The effect of eccentricity fluctuations is modest in semicentral Au+Au collisions, but significantly enhances v_2 in Cu+Cu collisions.
Initial partonic eccentricities in Au+Au collisions at center-of-mass energy $sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV are investigated using a multi-phase transport model with string melting scenario. The initial eccentricities in different order of harmonics are studied using participant and cumulant definitions. Eccentricity in terms of second-, fourth- and sixth order cumulants as a function of number of participant nucleons are compared systematically with the traditional participant definition. The ratio of the cumulant eccentricities $varepsilonleft{4right}/varepsilonleft{2right}$ and $varepsilonleft{6right}/varepsilonleft{4right}$ are studied in comparison with the ratio of the corresponding flow harmonics. The conversion coefficients ($v_n/varepsilon_n$) are explored up to fourth order harmonic based on cumulant method. Furthermore, studies on transverse momentum ($p_T$) and pseudo-rapidity ($eta$) dependencies of eccentricities and their fluctuations are presented. As in ideal hydrodynamics initial eccentricities are expected to be closely related to the final flow harmonics in relativistic heavy-ion collisions, studies of the fluctuating initial condition in the AMPT model will shed light on the tomography properties of the initial source geometry.
The 2D azimuth & rapidity structure of the two-particle correlations in relativistic A+A collisions is altered significantly by the presence of sharp inhomogeneities in superdense matter formed in such processes. The causality constraints enforce one to associate the long-range longitudinal correlations observed in a narrow angular interval, the so-called (soft) ridge, with peculiarities of the initial conditions of collision process. This studys objective is to analyze whether multiform initial tubular structures, undergoing the subsequent hydrodynamic evolution and gradual decoupling, can form the soft ridges. Motivated by the flux-tube scenarios, the initial energy density distribution contains the different numbers of high density tube-like boost-invariant inclusions that form a bumpy structure in the transverse plane. The influence of various structures of such initial conditions in the most central A+A events on the collective evolution of matter, resulting spectra, angular particle correlations and v_n-coefficients is studied in the framework of the HydroKinetic Model (HKM).
The two component Monte-Carlo Glauber model predicts a knee-like structure in the centrality dependence of elliptic flow $v_2$ in Uranium+Uranium collisions at $sqrt{s_{NN}}=193$ GeV. It also produces a strong anti-correlation between $v_2$ and $dN_{ch}/dy$ in the case of top ZDC events. However, none of these features have been observed in data. We address these discrepancies by including the effect of nucleon shadowing to the two component Monte-Carlo Glauber model. Apart from addressing successfully the above issues, we find that the nucleon shadow suppresses the event by event fluctuation of various quantities, e.g. $varepsilon_2$ which is in accordance with expectation from the dynamical models of initial condition based on gluon saturation physics.
We study the problem of initial conditions for slow-roll inflation along a plateau-like scalar potential within the framework of fluctuation-dissipation dynamics. We consider, in particular, that inflation was preceded by a radiation-dominated epoch where the inflaton is coupled to light degrees of freedom and may reach a near-equilibrium state. We show that the homogeneous field component can be sufficiently localized at the origin to trigger a period of slow-roll if the interactions between the inflaton and the thermal degrees of freedom are sufficiently strong and argue that this does not necessarily spoil the flatness of the potential at the quantum level. We further conclude that the inflaton can still be held at the origin after its potential begins to dominate the energy balance, leading to a period of thermal inflation. This then suppresses the effects of nonlinear interactions between the homogeneous and inhomogeneous field modes that could prevent the former from entering a slow-roll regime. Finally, we discuss the possibility of an early period of chaotic inflation, at large field values, followed by a first stage of reheating and subsequently by a second inflationary epoch along the plateau about the origin. This scenario could prevent an early overclosure of the Universe, at the same time yielding a low tensor-to-scalar ratio in agreement with observations.