Higher-order moments of the elliptic flow distribution in PbPb collisions at $\sqrt{{s}_{\mathrm{NN}}}$ = 5.02 TeV

The hydrodynamic flow-like behavior of charged hadrons in high-energy lead-lead collisions is studied through multiparticle correlations. The elliptic anisotropy values based on different orders of multiparticle cumulants, v 2{2k}, are measured up to the tenth order (k = 5) as functions of the collision centrality at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{{s}_{\mathrm{NN}}}$ = 5.02 TeV. The data were recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 0.607 nb −1. A hierarchy is observed between the coefficients, with v 2{2} > v 2{4} ≳ v 2{6} ≳ v 2{8} ≳ v 2{10}. Based on these results, centrality-dependent moments for the fluctuation-driven event-by-event v 2 distribution are determined, including the skewness, kurtosis and, for the first time, superskewness. Assuming a hydrodynamic expansion of the produced medium, these moments directly probe the initial-state geometry in high-energy nucleus-nucleus collisions.