Constraining the initial conditions and temperature dependent transport with three-particle correlations in Au+Au collisions

Understand

We present three-particle mixed-harmonic correlations $\la \cos (m\phi_a + n\phi_b - (m+n) \phi_c)\ra$ for harmonics $m,n=1-3$ for charged particles in $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=$200 GeV Au+Au collisions at RHIC.

• These measurements provide information on the three-dimensional structure of the initial collision zone and are important for constraining models of a subsequent low-viscosity quark-gluon plasma expansion phase.
• We investigate correlations between the first, second and third harmonics predicted as a consequence of fluctuations in the initial state.
• The dependence of the correlations on the pseudorapidity separation between particles show hints of a breaking of longitudinal invariance.