We discuss the helicity polarization which can be locally induced from both vorticity and helicity charge in non-central heavy ion collisions. Helicity charge redistribution can be generated in viscous fluid and contributes to azimuthal asymmetry of the polarization along global angular momentum or beam momentum. We also discuss on detecting the initial net helicity charge from topological charge fluctuation or initial color longitudinal field by the helicity polarization correlation of two hyperons and the helicity alignment of vector mesons in central heavy ion collisions.
We argue that the enhancement in the spin polarization of anti-hyperons compared to the polarization of the hyperons in noncentral relativistic heavy-ion collisions arises as a result of an interplay between the chiral and helical vortical effects. The chiral vortical effect generates the axial current of quarks along the vorticity axis while the recently found helical vortical effect generates the helicity flow -- the projection of the quarks polarization vector onto its momentum -- along the same axis. For massless fermions, the helical charge corresponds to a difference in the contributions of particles and anti-particles to the axial charge. Assuming that the spin of light quarks transfers to the strange quarks via the vector kaon states (the spin-vector dominance), we are able to describe the ratio of the (anti)hyperon spin polarizations, obtained by the STAR group, without fitting parameters. We also argue that the helical vortical effect dominates over the chiral vortical effect and the chiral magnetic effect in the generation of the electric current.
We study the dynamics of open charm production and the dilepton radiation of the semi-leptonic decays of correlated $Dbar D$ pairs versus the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) radiation and hadronic sources in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Our study is based on the Parton-Hadron-String Dynamics (PHSD) transport approach employing a non-perturbative QCD description of the strongly interacting quark-gluon plasma (sQGP) in terms of dynamical quasiparticles and the EoS based on lattice QCD. We compare the PHSD results for charm observables with the calculations from BAMPS (Boltzmann Approach to Multi-Parton Scatterings) which is based on perturbative QCD with massless partons and interaction cross sections calculated in leading order of the QCD coupling. We compare the $p_T$ dependence of the ratio $R_{AA}$ of $D$-mesons in $A+A$ over $p+p$ collisions scaled by the number of binary collisions $N_{bin}$ as well as the elliptic flow $v_2$ of $D$-mesons calculated within the PHSD and BAMPS at LHC energies. In other study, based on the PHSD calculations we find that the dileptons from correlated $D-$meson semi-leptonic decays dominate the thermal radiation from the QGP in central Pb+Pb collisions at the intermediate masses ($1.2 < M < 3$ GeV) for higher invariant energies However, for invariant energies $sqrt{s_{NN}} < 40$ GeV the QGP radiation overshines the contribution from $D,{bar D}$ decays such that one should observe a rather clear signal from the partonic dilepton radiation. This finding provides promising perspectives to measure the QGP radiation in the dilepton experiments at RHIC BES and the future FAIR/NICA facilities.
We have studied local spin polarization in the relativistic hydrodynamic model. Generalizing the Wigner functions previously obtained from chiral kinetic theory in Ref.[1] to the massive case, we present the possible contributions up to the order of $hbar$ from thermal vorticity, shear viscous tensor, other terms associated with the temperature and chemical-potential gradients, and electromagnetic fields to the local spin polarization. We then implement the (3+1) dimensional viscous hydrodynamic model to study the spin polarizations from these sources with a small chemical potential and ignorance of electromagnetic fields by adopting an equation of state different from those in other recent studies. Although the shear correction alone upon local polarization results in the sign and azimuthal-angle dependence more consistent with experimental observations, as also discovered in other recent studies, it is mostly suppressed by the contributions from thermal vorticity and other terms that yield an opposite trend. It is found that the total local spin polarization could be very sensitive to the equation of states, the ratio of shear viscosity over entropy density, and freezeout temperature.
Direct photons have been proposed as a promising signature for the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) formation in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Recently WA98 presented the first data on direct photons in Pb+Pb-collisions at SPS. At the same time RHIC started with its experimental program. The discovery of the QGP in these experiments relies on a comparison of data with theoretical predictions for QGP signals. In the case of direct photons new results for the production rates of thermal photons from the QGP and a hot hadron gas as well as for prompt photons from initial hard parton scatterings have been proposed recently. Based on these rates a variety of different hydrodynamic models, describing the space-time evolution of the fireball, have been adopted for calculating the direct photon spectra. The results have been compared to the WA98 data and predictions for RHIC and LHC have been made. So far the conclusions of the various models are controversial. The aim of the present review is to provide a comprehensive and up-to-date survey and status report on the experimental and theoretical aspects of direct photons in relativistic heavy-ion collisions.
High energy heavy-ion collisions in laboratory produce a form of matter that can test Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), the theory of strong interactions, at high temperatures. One of the exciting possibilities is the existence of thermodynamically distinct states of QCD, particularly a phase of de-confined quarks and gluons. An important step in establishing this new state of QCD is to demonstrate that the system has attained thermal equilibrium. We present a test of thermal equilibrium by checking that the mean hadron yields produced in the small impact parameter collisions as well as grand canonical fluctuations of conserved quantities give consistent temperature and baryon chemical potential for the last scattering surface. This consistency for moments up to third order of the net-baryon number, charge, and strangeness is a key step in the proof that the QCD matter produced in heavy-ion collision attains thermal equilibrium. It is a clear indication for the first time, using fluctuation observables, that a femto-scale system attains thermalization. The study also indicates that the relaxation time scales for the system are comparable to or smaller than the life time of the fireball.