A review on anisotropic flow in heavy-ion collisions

Abstract

We present a review of published experimental measurements on anisotropic flow in heavy-ion collisions. Flow coefficients [Formula: see text] are presented for charged and identified hadrons at various beam energies ranging from [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]GeV to 200[Formula: see text]GeV at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]GeV at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). We present [Formula: see text] and its slope [Formula: see text] and discuss possible first-order Quantum chromodynamics (QCD) phase transition. [Formula: see text] of particles containing heavy quarks (Charm quarks) is also discussed to illustrate the effect of the magnetic field produced in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. We also present flow harmonics ([Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]) for inclusive charged and identified hadrons. We compare the charged particle [Formula: see text] coefficients with hydrodynamics to study and constrain initial conditions in the transport models. The results of identified particle [Formula: see text] from ideal and viscous hydrodynamics are discussed to understand the dynamics and mechanism of particle production in high-energy nuclear collisions.