Principal component analysis of event-by-event fluctuations

Understand

We apply principal component analysis to the study of event-by-event fluctuations in relativistic heavy-ion collisions.

• This method brings out all the information contained in two-particle correlations in a physically transparent way.
• We present a guide to the method, and apply it to multiplicity fluctuations and anisotropic flow, using ALICE data and simulated events.
• In particular, we study elliptic and triangular flow fluctuations as a function of transverse momentum and rapidity.