Collective effects in the interactions of small systems on the RHIC

Abstract

It has long been believed that small colliding systems (p+Au, d+Au, ³He + Au) are can only be used to study the collective effects of cold nuclear matter. However, recent studies on the RHIC and LHC accelerators indicate there are flowlike collective effects characterized by the high multiplicity of charged particles produced in these collisions. Whether these effects result from the hydrodynamic expansion of a dense and hot thermalized medium or are caused by the initial state remains an open question. This work reports the results from measuring flow characteristics in d + Au and ³He + Au collisions at an energy of 200 GeV in the PHENIX experiment on the RHIC collider. Attempts to describe the results theoretically are discussed.