Sources of Radial-Flow Fluctuations in the Quark-Gluon Plasma
Phys. Rev. Lett. 136, 112301 – Published 19 March, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/d6mc-sq8m
Abstract
The differential radial flow fluctuation has emerged as a new probe of the quark-gluon plasma. However, its characteristic rise-and-fall pattern with , resembling anisotropic flow, remains unexplained. I introduce a momentum rescaling framework that factorizes into kinematic and dynamical components: . The first factor, determined by spectral shape, generates the rise-and-fall pattern as the spectra transition from exponential to power-law behavior. The dynamical component isolates -dependent dynamics: signals suppressed fluctuations, indicates enhancement. Analysis of LHC data reveals deviates from unity by 20%–40% in central collisions. Predictions for RHIC show that spectral shape alone generates the rise-and-fall baseline pattern with substantial energy dependence. This framework enables tighter medium property constraints by separating kinematic from dynamical effects, with broad applications to anisotropic flow and higher-order radial flow fluctuations.