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arXiv · 2611.05042

Effects of Parton Pair Correlations on Direct-Photon Yields and Elliptic Flow in Heavy-Ion Collisions

Xingjian Lu·Shuzhe Shi
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Abstract

Direct photons escape heavy-ion collisions with little rescattering, carrying information from the full emission history. Yet describing the measured direct-photon yield and the sizable elliptic flow $v_2$ together remains a long-standing challenge. Here we explore how correlations between emitting partons may affect both observables. The local $2\to2$ photon rate depends on the joint distribution of incoming partons, so a connected correlation between them can change photon emission without changing the one-particle distribution of medium particles. Once folded over the evolving medium in Au+Au and Pb+Pb collisions, the correlation raises the photon yield toward the fitted PHENIX and ALICE data and increases $v_2$ mainly at intermediate $p_T$. The fitted temperature dependence accounts for most of the net flow increase in this region, suggesting that the correlation changes the relative contributions between hotter and cooler regions.

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Xingjian Lu, Shuzhe Shi. 2026-11-03. Effects of Parton Pair Correlations on Direct-Photon Yields and Elliptic Flow in Heavy-Ion Collisions. https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.05042

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