Anisotropic flow measurements in OO and Ne-Ne collisions with ALICE

Abstract

The LHC results have demonstrated that small collision systems can exhibit collective behavior reminiscent of that~observed in heavy-ion collisions, opening a new frontier for exploring the connection between nuclear structure and collective dynamics at ultra-relativistic energies. However, the interpretation of collectivity in small collision systems is limited by understanding the proton subnucleonic structure. The ${}^{16}$O and ${}^{20}$Ne collisions delivered by the LHC offer an opportunity to study the influence of nuclear geometry on anisotropic flow in systems where the nuclear structure is well-constrained. In this proceeding, measurements of the anisotropic flow of charged particles, $v_n$, in OO and Ne-Ne collisions involving up to eight-particle correlations are presented, using the multi-particle cumulant method. Furthermore, the first reconstruction of the probability distribution function of elliptic flow $P(v_2)$, and the first measurement of the ratio $v_3\{4\}/v_3\{2\}$ in light-ion collision systems are reported. These measurements provide deeper insight into the role of nuclear geometry-driven flow in light-ion collisions.