Principal component analysis of event-by-event fluctuations

Rajeev S. Bhalerao, Jean-Yves Ollitrault, Subrata Pal, Derek Teaney

Published 2014-10-28Version 1

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.