No Arabic abstract
With a Yang-Mills flux-tube initial state and a high resolution (3+1)D Particle-in-Cell Relativistic (PICR) hydrodynamics simulation, we calculate the $Lambda$ polarization for different energies. The origination of polarization in high energy collisions is discussed, and we find linear impact parameter dependence of the global $Lambda$ polarization. Furthermore, the global $Lambda$ polarization in our model decreases very fast in the low energy domain, and the decline curve fits well the recent results of Beam Energy Scan (BES) program launched by the STAR collaboration at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The time evolution of polarization is also discussed.
Predictions for the global polarization of $Lambda$ hyperons in Au+Au collisions at moderately relativistic collision energies, 2.4 $leqsqrt{s_{NN}}leq$ 11 GeV, are made. These are based on the thermodynamic approach to the global polarization incorporated into the model of the three-fluid dynamics. Centrality dependence of the polarization is studied. It is predicted that the polarization reaches a maximum or a plateau (depending on the equation of state and centrality) at $sqrt{s_{NN}}approx$ 3 GeV. It is found that the global polarization increases with increasing width of the rapidity window around the midrapidity.
We discuss the energy flow of the classical gluon fields created in collisions of heavy nuclei at collider energies. We show how the Yang-Mills analoga of Faradays Law and Gauss Law predict the initial gluon flux tubes to expand or bend. The resulting transverse and longitudinal structure of the Poynting vector field has a rich phenomenology. Besides the well known radial and elliptic flow in transverse direction, classical quantum chromodynamics predicts a rapidity-odd transverse flow that tilts the fireball for non-central collisions, and it implies a characteristic flow pattern for collisions of non-symmetric systems $A+B$. The rapidity-odd transverse flow translates into a directed particle flow $v_1$ which has been observed at RHIC and LHC. The global flow fields in heavy ion collisions could be a powerful check for the validity of classical Yang-Mill dynamics in high energy collisions.
The polarization of $Lambda$ hyperons from relativistic flow vorticity is studied in peripheral heavy ion reactions at FAIR and NICA energies, just above the threshold of the transition to the Quark-Gluon Plasma. Previous calculations at higher energies with larger initial angular momentum, predicted significant $Lambda$ polarization based on the classical vorticity term in the polarization, while relativistic modifications decreased the polarization and changed its structure in the momentum space. At the lower energies studied here, we see the same effect namely that the relativistic modifications decrease the polarization arising from the initial shear flow vorticity.
The extreme temperatures and energy densities generated by ultra-relativistic collisions between heavy nuclei produce a state of matter with surprising fluid properties. Non-central collisions have angular momentum on the order of 1000$hbar$, and the resulting fluid may have a strong vortical structure that must be understood to properly describe the fluid. It is also of particular interest because the restoration of fundamental symmetries of quantum chromodynamics is expected to produce novel physical effects in the presence of strong vorticity. However, no experimental indications of fluid vorticity in heavy ion collisions have so far been found. Here we present the first measurement of an alignment between the angular momentum of a non-central collision and the spin of emitted particles, revealing that the fluid produced in heavy ion collisions is by far the most vortical system ever observed. We find that $Lambda$ and $overline{Lambda}$ hyperons show a positive polarization of the order of a few percent, consistent with some hydrodynamic predictions. A previous measurement that reported a null result at higher collision energies is seen to be consistent with the trend of our new observations, though with larger statistical uncertainties. These data provide the first experimental access to the vortical structure of the perfect fluid created in a heavy ion collision. They should prove valuable in the development of hydrodynamic models that quantitatively connect observations to the theory of the Strong Force. Our results extend the recent discovery of hydrodynamic spin alignment to the subatomic realm.
Partons produced in the early stage of non-central heavy-ion collisions can develop a longitudinal fluid shear because of unequal local number densities of participant target and projectile nucleons. Under such fluid shear, local parton pairs with non-vanishing impact parameter have finite local relative orbital angular momentum along the direction opposite to the reaction plane. Such finite relative orbital angular momentum among locally interacting quark pairs can lead to global quark polarization along the same direction due to spin-orbital coupling. Local longitudinal fluid shear is estimated within both Landau fireball and Bjorken scaling model of initial parton production. Quark polarization through quark-quark scatterings with the exchange of a thermal gluon is calculated beyond small-angle scattering approximation in a quark-gluon plasma. The polarization is shown to have a non-monotonic dependence on the local relative orbital angular momentum dictated by the interplay between electric and magnetic interaction. It peaks at a value of relative orbital angular momentum which scales with the magnetic mass of the exchanged gluons. With the estimated small longitudinal fluid shear in semi-peripheral $Au+Au$ collisions at the RHIC energy, the final quark polarization is found to be small $|P_q|<0.04$ in the weak coupling limit. Possible behavior of the quark polarization in the strong coupling limit and implications on the experimental detection of such global quark polarization at RHIC and LHC are also discussed.