Anisotropic flow of charged hadrons, pions and (anti-)protons measured at high transverse momentum in Pb-Pb collisions at \(\sqrt{s_{NN}}\)=2.76 TeV

Abstract

The elliptic, \(v_2\), triangular, \(v_3\), and quadrangular, \(v_4\), azimuthal anisotropic flow coefficients are measured for unidentified charged particles, pions, and (anti-)protons in Pb–Pb collisions at \(\sqrt{s_{NN}}\) = 2.76 TeV with the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Results obtained with the event plane and four-particle cumulant methods are reported for the pseudo-rapidity range |\(\eta\)|<0.8 at different collision centralities and as a function of transverse momentum, \(p_T\), out to \(p_T\)=20 GeV/c. The observed non-zero elliptic and triangular flow depends only weakly on transverse momentum for \(p<_T\)>8 GeV/c. The small \(p_T\) dependence of the difference between elliptic flow results obtained from the event plane and four-particle cumulant methods suggests a common origin of flow fluctuations up to \(p_T\) =8 GeV/c. The magnitude of the (anti-)proton elliptic and triangular flow is larger than that of pions out to at least \(p_T\) =8 GeV/c indicating that the particle type dependence persists out to high \(p_T\),