Eur. Phys. J. C (2013) 73: 2510
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-013-2510-y

Regular Article - Experimental Physics

A method for studying initial geometry fluctuations via event plane correlations in heavy ion collisions

¹ Department of Chemistry, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11794, USA
² Physics Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, 11796, USA

^* e-mail: jjia@bnl.gov

Received: 6 May 2013
Revised: 14 June 2013
Published online: 24 July 2013

Abstract

A method is proposed to measure the relative azimuthal angle distributions involving two or more event planes of different order in heavy ion collisions using a Fourier analysis technique. The analysis procedure is demonstrated for correlations involving two and three event planes (Φ _n , Φ _m and Φ _h ). The Fourier coefficients of these distributions are found to coincide with previously proposed correlators, such as cos(6Φ ₂−6Φ ₃) and cos(Φ ₁+2Φ ₂−3Φ ₃) etc., hence the method provides a natural framework for studying these correlators at the same time. Using a Monte Carlo Glauber model to simulate Au+Au collisions with fluctuating initial geometry, we are able to identify several new two- or three-plane correlators that have sizable magnitudes and should be measured experimentally.