REVIEW 3 major objections 4 minor 56 references
String-shoving simulations place the strongest ultra-long-range ridge at the lowest pp multiplicities.
Reviewed by Pith at T0; open to challenge. T0 means a machine referee read the full paper against a public rubric. the ladder, T0–T4 →
T0 review · deepseek-v4-flash
2026-08-03 17:27 UTC pith:JHY6MZP3
load-bearing objection Low-MPI dijets carry the real ridge signal; the claimed high-multiplicity failure of string shoving is muddied by the template-fit subtraction. the 3 major comments →
Finite V_(rm 2Delta) puzzle in low-multiplicity pp collisions from ultra-long-range azimuthal correlations in the string-shoving model
The pith
A machine-rendered reading of the paper's core claim, the machinery that carries it, and where it could break.
Core claim
Using PYTHIA8 with the string-shoving mechanism, the authors find that the second-order two-particle correlation coefficient V2Δ measured at 5<|Δη|<6 is largest in the lowest-multiplicity event classes, particularly for N_mpi≈1 dijet events, and declines monotonically as N_ch increases. This stands in contrast to LHC data, which show only a weak multiplicity dependence. They trace the model's decreasing trend to three effects: random cancellation of many small string pushes, dilution of a fixed anisotropic momentum over more particles, and an over-subtraction in the template-fit method because the low-multiplicity reference already contains flow-like correlations. The paper concludes that st
What carries the argument
The string-shoving mechanism: repulsive transverse pressure between overlapping color strings in PYTHIA8 that generates a collective push and mimics flow without a quark-gluon plasma. The extraction uses the template-fit method, which assumes high-multiplicity events are a scaled low-multiplicity 'non-flow' reference plus an additional Fourier term; V2Δ is read off the n=2 coefficient. The event-activity estimators N_ch (midrapidity charged multiplicity), N_mpi (number of parton-parton scatterings), and flattenicity (an event-shape variable measuring multiplicity fluctuations across V0-like cells) serve as alternative classifiers.
Load-bearing premise
The template-fit method assumes the low-multiplicity reference contains no genuine long-range flow; the paper itself shows that the string-shoving low-multiplicity template already carries flow-like correlations, so subtracting it can artificially suppress V2Δ at higher multiplicities.
What would settle it
If experimental analyses using an event-shape estimator like flattenicity (which the paper argues is less biased) were to show V2Δ increasing or flat with activity, the string-shoving prediction of a decreasing trend would be contradicted. Alternatively, a simulation with string shoving that uses a low-multiplicity template with flow explicitly removed (e.g., from a non-shoving baseline) should yield a flatter V2Δ(N_ch) if the over-subtraction explanation is correct.
If this is right
- If string shoving is right, the low-multiplicity ridge observed in pp collisions does not require quark-gluon plasma formation.
- N_ch-based event selection artificially dilutes the collective signal, so studies comparing models and data should use global estimators like flattenicity.
- String shoving has a built-in saturation: it fades in dense, isotropic environments, consistent with a gradual onset of collectivity where hydrodynamics becomes relevant at high multiplicity.
- The decreasing V2Δ trend in the model is partly an artifact of over-subtraction, so template-fit results should be reinterpreted with a flow-free reference.
Where Pith is reading between the lines
- If flattenicity-based event classes are adopted in future LHC measurements, the data may show a stronger multiplicity dependence than the N_ch-based results, providing a direct test of the string-shoving contribution at low multiplicities.
- The over-subtraction mechanism described here could also affect other small-system ridge studies that use template fits, suggesting a systematic re-analysis of existing low-multiplicity ridge data with alternative non-flow references.
- The finding that dijet events produce the strongest shoving signal implies that jets may seed the geometry for collective-like correlations, connecting the ridge to jet fragmentation in a way that can be studied with jet-triggered correlations.
Editorial analysis
A structured set of objections, weighed in public.
Referee Report
Summary. This paper uses PYTHIA8 (v8.312, string-shoving extension, g=10) to compute the second-order two-particle correlation V2Δ for |Δη| in [5,6] in pp collisions at 13 TeV, studying its dependence on three event-activity estimators: midrapidity Nch, generator-level Nmpi, and flattenicity. The template-fit method is used to extract V2Δ from Δφ projections. The authors report that V2Δ decreases with Nch, while ALICE data show a much weaker multiplicity dependence; that the raw correlation is strongest for the lowest-Nmpi (dijet-like) event class, contrary to the usual high-multiplicity collectivity picture; and that Nch is more biased toward jet-like topologies than Nmpi or flattenicity. They conclude that string shoving may explain the low-multiplicity ridge and that hydrodynamics becomes relevant only at high multiplicity.
Significance. If the quantitative result were robust, this would be a valuable constraint on the origin of collectivity in small systems: it would demonstrate that a non-fluid, initial-state mechanism can generate ultra-long-range azimuthal correlations specifically in low-multiplicity events, and that the event-activity estimator is not a neutral choice. The paper is transparent in listing its PYTHIA parameters (Table I) and in scanning the shoving strength g (Fig. 5), which makes the model dependence of the signal falsifiable. The main weakness is that the central V2Δ(Nch) trend rests on a template subtraction whose low-multiplicity reference is shown by the authors themselves to contain long-range flow-like correlations; no matched no-shoving control or closure test is provided. The low-Nmpi ridge is visible in raw yields, so that part of the conclusion is less affected, but the quantitative model-data comparison and the 'hydro becomes relevant at high multiplicity' inference are not cleanly established.
major comments (3)
- [Sec. III (Fig. 2), Eq. (2), Summary item 5] The central evidence for a decreasing V2Δ(Nch) trend is the template-fit extraction in Fig. 1. Equation (2) requires the low-multiplicity template Y^LM to contain no genuine long-range correlation. The paper demonstrates otherwise: the string-shoving LM template already contains flow-like correlations, which are then subtracted from all higher Nch classes (Sec. III, Fig. 2 discussion; Summary item 5). This over-subtraction can produce the decreasing trend by construction. The Monash-LM-template check in Fig. 2 is not a matched control: Monash differs in tune, hadronization, and non-flow shape from the string-shoving sample, so it does not isolate the shoving effect. I acknowledge that the low-Nmpi ridge is visible in raw yields (Fig. 4) and is therefore independent of the template subtraction; my concern is specifically the quantitative V2Δ(Nch) trend and its interpretation as evidence a
- [Sec. II.B and Figs. 1-4] No statistical or systematic uncertainties are reported for the PYTHIA V2Δ values, and no closure test of the template fit is provided. The model-data differences that drive the conclusions are at the level of V2Δ ~ 0.0005–0.002 (Figs. 1-2), so without error bars it is unclear whether the quoted trends are significant relative to stochastic fluctuations. A closure test, in which a known V2Δ is injected into the signal class and recovered by Eq. (2), is especially important given that the reference itself contains long-range correlations. Even with 10 billion events, systematic uncertainties from the choice of template and event-class boundaries must be quantified before comparing to ALICE data.
- [Sec. II.C, Eq. (3), and Fig. 4] The recommendation that flattenicity is a better estimator than Nch is only partly supported by the presented evidence. Flattenicity was constructed in Ref. [36] to select MPI-dominated, topologically isotropic events, so the statement that it reduces Nch-type bias is, to some extent, built into its definition. More importantly, the comparison in Fig. 4 is between classifiers acting on different acceptances: Nch is midrapidity, while flattenicity is built from V0-like cell multiplicities that overlap the forward/backward intervals used to construct V2Δ (2.6<η<3.2 and -3.0<η<-2.0). This overlap can introduce an autocorrelation in the flattenicity-selected per-trigger yields. To make the claim robust, the authors should quantify the acceptance overlap or repeat the flattenicity definition using a disjoint acceptance and show that the conclusions are unchanged.
minor comments (4)
- [Table II] The table header says 'Flattenicity Range' but the text says the reported quantity is 1-ρ_nch. Please state explicitly in the table/caption whether the ranges refer to 1-ρ_nch or ρ_nch, since the values (0.00–0.78, etc.) are hard to interpret otherwise.
- [Figs. 1-2] The figure legends are incomplete in the printed text: the hydro band in Fig. 1 is mentioned in the caption but no legend entry is visible in the figure itself. Please also state in the captions that the PYTHIA points carry no uncertainty bars.
- [Sec. II.B, Eq. (1)-(2)] Equation (2) omits the explicit |Δη| integration; please state clearly that the fit is applied to the Δφ projection integrated over 5.0<|Δη|<6.0, as described in the text, so that the notation is self-contained.
- [References] Refs. [34] and [41] appear to refer to the same paper (Bierlich, Gustafson, Lönnblad, JHEP 10 (2016) 139 / arXiv:1612.05132). Please consolidate to avoid duplicate citations.
Circularity Check
No load-bearing circularity: the template-fit over-subtraction is acknowledged and partly controlled; the main claim is anchored by external ALICE data and by raw correlation structures.
full rationale
The central derivation is a Monte Carlo comparison rather than a first-principles chain: PYTHIA8 with string shoving is run with fixed parameters (g=10), per-trigger yields are computed directly, and the extracted V2Δ(Nch) is compared to ALICE data and to a hydrodynamic calculation. No parameter is fitted to the target V2Δ data and then renamed as a prediction. The one caveat that could look definitional — Eq. (2) defines V2Δ as the excess over a scaled low-multiplicity template Y^LM, and the paper admits that the string-shoving LM template already contains flow-like correlations, causing over-subtraction (Sec. III, Fig. 2 discussion; Summary item 5) — is explicitly acknowledged and is not the sole basis for the conclusion. The same section shows that using a Monash (non-flow) LM template still yields a decreasing V2Δ(Nch) ('the trend is still decreasing'), so the decreasing trend is not generated purely by the contaminated reference. The low-Nmpi sensitivity and the g-dependence of the ridge are also taken directly from raw Δφ distributions, independent of the template subtraction. The flattenicity recommendation cites the authors' prior work [36] for the estimator's design goal, but the paper's own new simulations (Figs. 3–4) and the external ALICE benchmark carry the argument; the self-citation is therefore not load-bearing. Overall, the paper is self-contained and benchmarked against external data; no circular reduction of a predicted quantity to a fitted input or self-citation chain is identifiable.
Axiom & Free-Parameter Ledger
free parameters (5)
- Ropewalk:gAmplitude (g) =
10 (g=3 and g=40 explored)
- Ropewalk:r0 =
0.41
- Ropewalk:deltay =
0.10
- PartonVertex:ProtonRadius =
0.70
- Template-fit F and G =
per event class
axioms (5)
- domain assumption String shoving model: overlapping color strings repel via gluon exchange, producing transverse collective push.
- domain assumption Template-fit ansatz (Eq. 2): high-multiplicity Δφ yield = F × low-multiplicity yield + G(1+Σ2VnΔ cos nΔφ), with flow-free LM reference.
- domain assumption Ultra-long-range |Δη|>5 correlations on the near side are free of jet/resonance non-flow.
- domain assumption Flattenicity (Eq. 3) in the V0 acceptance is a valid proxy for MPI activity / global event topology.
- domain assumption PYTHIA8 Monash tune provides a baseline with negligible long-range flow, usable as a pure non-flow template.
read the original abstract
Ultra-long range angular correlations have been recently reported by the ALICE collaboration in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV below ${\rm d}N_{\rm ch}/{\rm d}\eta=7$. The measurements have been performed as a function of the charged-particle multiplicity at midrapidity ($N_{\rm ch}$ in $|\eta|<0.8$), which is known to be strongly sensitive to local multiplicity fluctuations. The present work investigates the impact of the event-activity estimator on ultra-long range angular correlations. The study is conducted in the framework of PYTHIA8 with the string shoving mechanism since it gives a non-zero elliptic flow coefficient, $V_{2\Delta}$. The analysis is conducted as a function of $N_{\rm ch}$, the number of parton-parton scatterings ($N_{\rm mpi}$) and flattenicity. Surprisingly, for ultra-long range correlations, pp collisions with $N_{\rm mpi}=1$ (dijets) seems to be the most sensitive to string shoving. The effect diminishes with increasing $N_{\rm mpi}$. While in data, within uncertainties, $V_{2\Delta}$ exhibits a weak multiplicity dependence; the string shoving mechanism gives a $V_{2\Delta}$ that decreases with the increase in $N_{\rm ch}$. The present work therefore supports the picture stating that mechanisms such as string shoving might explain the low multiplicity limit, whereas, hydro becomes relevant in high-multiplicity pp collisions. This work also suggests that flattenicity might be more effective than $N_{\rm ch}$ to better handle non-flow effects.
Figures
Reference graph
Works this paper leans on
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The string-shoving mechanism alone is insufficient 9 1 −0 1 2 3 4 0.062 0.063 0.064 ϕ Δ d η Δ /d pair N 2 d trig N 1/ : Class-I mpiNg = 3 g = 10 g = 40 = 13 TeV, PYTHIA8, String shoving spp,| < 6.0 ηΔ5.0 < |1 −0 1 2 3 4 0.0615 0.062 0.0625 0.063 0.0635 0.064 : Class-II mpiNg = 3 g = 10 g = 40 1 −0 1 2 3 4 0.0615 0.062 0.0625 0.063 0.0635 0.064 : Class-III...
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In these dijet-dominated events, the anisotropic geometry of a few overlap- ping strings and beam remnants allows for an effi- cient collective push
Contrary to the intuitive link between collectiv- ity and high activity, the string-shoving mechanism generates its strongest ultra-long-range correlations in events with a low number of multiparton inter- actions (N mpi ≈1–3). In these dijet-dominated events, the anisotropic geometry of a few overlap- ping strings and beam remnants allows for an effi- ci...
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UsingN ch as an event-activity es- timator conflates events with genuine underlying- event activity and those with high particle yield from jets
The traditional event classifierN ch introduces a sig- nificant bias. UsingN ch as an event-activity es- timator conflates events with genuine underlying- event activity and those with high particle yield from jets. This bias dilutes the collective signal and artificially exacerbates the decreasingV 2∆ trend, worsening the apparent failure of the model
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Global event-shape estimators reveal the true model behavior. When using direct proxies for string density like the number of MPIs or the novel event-shape observable like flattenicity, the analysis shows that the string-shoving signal saturates and diminishes in dense, isotropic environments. This built-in saturation is a key feature of the mecha- nism
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It is demonstrated that the low-multiplicity templates used for non-flow subtraction already contain sig- nificant flow-like correlations from string shoving
The template fit method is further complicated by inherent flow-like effects in low-activity events. It is demonstrated that the low-multiplicity templates used for non-flow subtraction already contain sig- nificant flow-like correlations from string shoving. This leads to over-subtraction in higher activity classes, further suppressing the extractedV 2∆
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The analysis results support a picture of a grad- ual onset of collectivity as a function of system size and density. In this picture, initial-state effects like string shoving dominate in low-multiplicity pp colli- sions, while final-state collective expansion (hydro- dynamics) becomes increasingly relevant in high- multiplicity pp collisions. In conclus...
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discussion (0)
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