Zhi Qiu

Bio: Zhi Qiu is an academic researcher from Ohio State University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Elliptic flow & Quark–gluon plasma. The author has an hindex of 12, co-authored 17 publications receiving 1091 citations.

Event-by-event shape and flow fluctuations of relativistic heavy-ion collision fireballs

Abstract: Heavy-ion collisions create deformed quark-gluon plasma (QGP) fireballs which explode anisotropically. The viscosity of the fireball matter determines its ability to convert the initial spatial deformation into momentum anisotropies that can be measured in the final hadron spectra. A quantitatively precise empirical extraction of the QGP viscosity thus requires a good understanding of the initial fireball deformation. This deformation fluctuates from event to event, and so does the finally observed momentum anisotropy. We present a harmonic decomposition of the initial fluctuations in shape and orientation of the fireball and perform event-by-event (2 + 1)-dimensional ideal fluid dynamical simulations to extract the resulting fluctuations in the magnitude and direction of the corresponding harmonic components of the final anisotropic flow at midrapidity. The final harmonic flow coefficients are found to depend nonlinearly on the initial harmonic eccentricity coefficients. We show that, on average, initial density fluctuations suppress the buildup of elliptic flow relative to what one obtains from a smooth initial profile of the same eccentricity and discuss implications for the phenomenological extraction of the QGP shear viscosity from experimental elliptic flow data.

Fluctuating flow angles and anisotropic flow measurements

Abstract: Event-by-event fluctuations in the initial density distributions of the fireballs created in relativistic heavy-ion collisions lead to event-by-event fluctuations of the final anisotropic flow angles, and density inhomogeneities in the initial state cause these flow angles to vary with the transverse momentum of the emitted particles. It is shown that these effects lead to characteristically different transverse momentum dependencies for anisotropic flow coefficients extracted from different experimental methods. These differences can be used to experimentally constrain flow angle fluctuations in the final state of heavy-ion collisions which, in turn, are sensitive to the initial-state density fluctuations and the shear viscosity of the expanding fireball medium.

Collective Flow and Viscosity in Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions

Abstract: We review collective flow, its anisotropies, and its event-to-event fluctuations in relativistic heavy-ion collisions, as well as the extraction of the specific shear viscosity of quark–gluon plasma from collective flow data collected in heavy-ion collision experiments at RHIC and the LHC. We emphasize the similarities between the Big Bang of our universe and the Little Bangs created in heavy-ion collisions.

Hydrodynamic Modeling of Heavy-Ion Collisions

Abstract: We review progress in the hydrodynamic description of heavy-ion collisions, focusing on recent developments in modeling the fluctuating initial state and event-by-event viscous hydrodynamic simulations. We discuss how hydrodynamics can be used to extract information on fundamental properties of quantum chromodynamics from experimental data, and review successes and challenges of the hydrodynamic framework.