Search

We propose to use spectator particle yield ratios to probe the configuration of α clusters in 12C and 16O by their ultracentral collisions at RHIC and LHC energies. The idea is illustrated based on initial density distributions with various α-cluster configurations generated by a microscopic cluster model, and without α clusters from mean-field calculations. The multifragmentation of the spectator matter produces more spectator light nuclei including α clusters in collisions of nuclei with chain structure of α clusters, compared to those of nuclei with a more compact structure. The yield ratio of free spectator neutrons to spectator particles with mass-to-charge ratio A/Z=2 scaled by their masses can be practically measured by the zero-degree calorimeter (ZDC) at RHIC and LHC, serving as a clean probe free from modeling the complicated dynamics at midrapidities.

Abstract We revisit the condensation scenario of charged pions in external magnetic field and rotation, which was first considered by Y. Liu and I. Zahed. Based on the Ginzburg-Landau analysis of the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model, we find that the charged-pion condensation takes place only when both a strong coupling constant and negatively large baryon chemical potential are applied. Besides, our numerical calculation shows that the chiral restoration induced by the interplay between magnetic field and rotation (i.e., the rotational magnetic inhibition) interrupts the formation of the charged-pion condensate. This suggests that the analysis of such condensation requires a careful treatment of the inner structure of pions, which was not taken into account before. We also discuss the underlying physical mechanism of our finding and the indication of charged-rho condensation.

We investigate the effects of boost invariance breaking on the isotropization of pressure in the glasma, using a 3+1D glasma simulation. The breaking is attributed to spatial fluctuations in the classical color charge density along the collision axis. We present numerical results for pressure and energy density at mid-rapidity and across a wider rapidity region. It is found that, despite varying longitudinal correlation lengths, the behaviors of the pressure isotropizations are qualitatively similar. The numerical results suggest that, in the initial stage, longitudinal color electromagnetic fields develop, similar to those in the boost invariant glasma. Subsequently, these fields evolve into a dilute glasma, expanding longitudinally in a manner akin to a dilute gas. We also show that the energy density at mid-rapidity exhibits a 1/τ decay in the dilute glasma stage.

Abstract We compute the relaxation rate of the spin density of heavy quarks in a perturbative QCD plasma to leading-log order in the coupling constant g. The spin relaxation rate Γ s in spin hydrodynamics is shown to be Γ s ~ g 4 log(1/g)T(T/M)2 in the heavy-quark limit T/M ≪ 1, which is smaller than the relaxation rate of other non- hydrodynamic modes by additional powers of T/M. We demonstrate three different methods to evaluate the spin relaxation rate: 1) the Green-Kubo formula in the spin hydrodynamic regime, 2) the spin density correlation function in the strict hydrodynamic limit, and 3) quantum kinetic theory of the spin distribution function in momentum space. We highlight the interesting differences between these methods, while they are ultimately connected to each other by the underlying Ward-Takahashi identity for the non-conserved spin density.

Within the framework of Ultra-relativistic Quantum Molecular Dynamics (UrQMD) model, we extract the global spin polarization of Λ hyperon in 108Ag+108Ag and 197 Au+197Au collisions at sNN=2.42–62.4 GeV. We use two different approaches to calculate the Λ polarization Py: approach I is based on equilibrium assumption so that Py is determined by thermal vorticity and approach II assumes a proportional relation between Py and the system's angular momentum in Λ's rest frame. We find that both approaches can describe the experimental data at low energies around a few GeV but only approach I describes well also higher-energy data. This suggests that at higher energies the relativistic effect plays an important role. After taking into such effect properly, the relativity-improved approach II can describe the higher-energy data as well.

Abstract Using the second law of local thermodynamics and the first-order Palatini formalism, we formulate relativistic spin hydrodynamics for quantum field theories with Dirac fermions, such as QED and QCD, in a torsionful curved background. We work in a regime where spin density, which is assumed to relax much slower than other non-hydrodynamic modes, is treated as an independent degree of freedom in an extended hydrodynamic description. Spin hydrodynamics in our approach contains only three non-hydrodynamic modes corresponding to a spin vector, whose relaxation time is controlled by a new transport coefficient: the rotational viscosity. We study linear response theory and observe an interesting mode mixing phenomenon between the transverse shear and the spin density modes. We propose several field-theoretical ways to compute the spin relaxation time and the rotational viscosity, via the Green-Kubo formula based on retarded correlation functions.

Urea, nickel (Ni) and dissolved organic matter (DOM) from land varied with different sources have a great impact on the offshore ecosystem. The heterogeneity of Ni bioavailability and toxicity of Prorocentrum donghaiense influenced by DOM fractions incubated in urea was investigated in this study. On the occasion, chlorophyll (Chl a) concentration, growth rate, and photosynthesis parameters were monitored to track changes occurring in the test organism. Chl a concentration and photosynthesis parameters in the treatment of hydrophilic DOM (HPI) with Ni-free was significantly higher than that in the control treatment, and similar data were shown in the treatment of hydrophobic DOM（HPO）with the low Ni environment (0.17μmol L−1). However, the opposite phenomena were observed in the treatments of HPO with the higher Ni environment (over 170μmol L−1). Moreover, the EC50 of Ni for P.donghaiense incubated in HPO was relatively lower than that in HPI and control treatment, which implied that HPO elevated the toxicity of Ni. Therefore, the varied DOM compositions because of different origins, as a chelating agent and potential nutrient source in coastal waters, shows the significantly different bioavailability and toxicity of Ni with the increasing inputs of urea, which in turn influences the dynamics of phytoplankton.

Global spin polarization of hyperons is an important observable to probe the vorticity of the quark-gluon plasma produced in heavy-ion collisions. We calculate the global polarizations of Λ, Ξ−, and Ω− in Au+Au collisions at energies sNN= 7.7–200 GeV based on a multiphase transport model. Our calculations suggest that their primary global polarizations fulfill PΩ−≃5/3PΞ−≃5/3PΛ. We also estimate the feed-down effect of particle decay on the global polarization. With the feed-down effect taken into account, the global polarizations of Λ and Ξ− are clearly separated, and the final global polarizations are in the ordering: PΩ−>PΞ−>PΛ. Such a relation can be tested in experiments, which will provide us more information about the global polarization mechanism.

Abstract Rotating photon gas exhibits a chirality separation along the angular velocity which is manifested through a generation of helicity and zilch currents. In this paper we study this system using the corresponding Wigner function and construct elements of the covariant chiral kinetic theory for photons from first principles. The Wigner function is solved order-by-order in ħ and the unconstrained terms are fixed by matching with quantum field theory results. We further consider the zilch and helicity currents and show that both manifestations of the chirality transport originate in the Berry phase of photons similarly to other chiral effects. Constructing the kinetic description from the Wigner function we find that the frame vector needed to fix the definition of spin of a massless particle is, in fact, the vector of the residual gauge freedom for the free Maxwell theory. We also briefly comment on the possible relation between vortical responses in rotating systems of massless particles and the anomalies of underlying quantum field theory.

Abstract We discuss phenomenological implications of the anomalous transport induced by the scale anomaly in QCD coupled to an electromagnetic (EM) field, based on a dilaton effective theory. The scale anomalous current emerges in a way perfectly analogous to the conformal transport current induced in a curved spacetime background, or the Nernst current in Dirac and Weyl semimetals — both current forms are equivalent by a “Weyl transformation”. We focus on a spatially homogeneous system of QCD hadron phase, which is expected to be created after the QCD phase transition and thermalization. We find that the EM field can induce a dynamic oscillatory dilaton field which in turn induces the scale anomalous current. As the phenomenological applications, we evaluate the dilepton and diphoton productions induced from the dynamic scale anomalous current, and find that those productions include a characteristic peak structure related to the dynamic oscillatory dilaton, which could be tested in heavy ion collisions. We also briefly discuss the out-of-equilibrium particle production created by a nonadiabatic dilaton oscillation, which happens in a way of the so-called tachyonic preheating mechanism.

Relativistic magnetohydrodynamics (RMHD) provides an extremely useful description of the low-energy long-wavelength phenomena in a variety of physical systems from quark–gluon plasma in heavy-ion collisions to matters in supernova, compact stars, and early universe. We review the recent theoretical progresses of RMHD, such as a formulation of RMHD from the perspective of magnetic flux conservation using the entropy–current analysis, the nonequilibrium statistical operator approach applied to quantum electrodynamics, and the relativistic kinetic theory. We discuss how the transport coefficients in RMHD are computed in kinetic theory and perturbative quantum field theories. We also explore the collective modes and instabilities in RMHD with a special emphasis on the role of chirality in a parity-odd plasma. We also give some future prospects of RMHD, including the interaction with spin hydrodynamics and the new kinetic framework with magnetic flux conservation.

We investigate the spin alignment of vector mesons arising from locally polarized quarks and anti-quarks (local spin alignment) in heavy-ion collisions. We find that ρ00≠1/3 does not necessarily signal the global polarization of quarks and anti-quarks along the orbital angular momentum of the system, but may also originate from their local spin polarization. Such local spin polarization could be induced by local vorticity arising from the anisotropic expansion of the fireball. We further propose experimental observables that can distinguish between the local and the global spin alignments. Measurements of these observables in heavy-ion collisions can probe the vorticity pattern and shed light on the puzzles of ϕ and K⁎0 spin alignments.

We derive relativistic hydrodynamic equations with a dynamical spin degree of freedom on the basis of an entropy-current analysis. The first and second laws of local thermodynamics constrain possible structures of the constitutive relations including a spin current and the antisymmetric part of the (canonical) energy-momentum tensor. Solving the obtained hydrodynamic equations within the linear-mode analysis, we find spin-diffusion modes, indicating that spin density is damped out after a characteristic time scale controlled by transport coefficients introduced in the antisymmetric part of the energy-momentum tensor in the entropy-current analysis. This is a consequence of mutual convertibility between spin and orbital angular momentum.

Abstract The spin Hall effect of light attracted enormous attention in the literature due to the ongoing progress in developing of new optically active materials and metamaterials with non-trivial spin-orbit interaction. Recently, it was shown that rotating fermionic systems with relativistic massless spectrum may exhibit a 3-dimensional analogue of the spin Hall current — the chiral vortical effect (CVE). Here we show that CVE is a general feature of massless particles with an arbitrary spin. We derive the semi-classical equations of motion in rotating frame from the first principles and show how by coordinate transformation in the phase space it can be brought to the intuitive form proposed in [1]. Our finding clarifies the superficial discrepancies in different formulations of the chiral kinetic theory for rotating systems. We then generalize the chiral kinetic theory, originally introduced for fermions, to an arbitrary spin and study chirality current in a general rotating chiral medium. We stress that the higher-spin realizations of CVE can be in principle observed in various setups including table-top experiments on quantum optics.

We explore the features of the UA(1) and chiral symmetry breaking of the Nambu–Jona-Lasinio model without the Kobayashi–Maskawa–'t Hooft determinant term in the presence of a parallel electromagnetic field. We show that the electromagnetic chiral anomaly can induce both finite neutral pion condensate and isospin-singlet pseudo-scalar η condensate and thus modifies the chiral symmetry breaking pattern. In order to characterize the strength of the UA(1) symmetry breaking, we evaluate the susceptibility associated with the UA(1) charge. The result shows that the susceptibility contributed from the chiral anomaly is consistent with the behavior of the corresponding η condensate. The spectra of the mesonic excitations are also studied.

Abstract We study the anomaly induced effects of dense baryonic matter under rotation. We derive the anomalous terms that account for the chiral vortical effect in the low-energy effective theory for light Nambu-Goldstone modes. The anomalous terms lead to new physical consequences, such as the anomalous Hall energy current and spontaneous generation of angular momentum in a magnetic field (or spontaneous magnetization by rotation). In particular, we show that, due to the presence of such anomalous terms, the ground state of the quantum chromodynamics (QCD) under sufficiently fast rotation becomes the “chiral soliton lattice” of neutral pions that has lower energy than the QCD vacuum and nuclear matter. We briefly discuss the possible realization of the chiral soliton lattice induced by a fast rotation in noncentral heavy ion collisions.

The effect of anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) on the fluorescence of n-B18H22 was studied. The experimental result revealed that the fluorescence of n-B18H22 was obviously enhanced with the increase of the concentration of SDS, mainly due to the hydrophobic protection of n-B18H22 by SDS. Under the optimum conditions, the fluorescence intensity was proportional to the concentration of n-B18H22 in the range of 0-8.0×10−3 mol·L−1 and 8.0×10−3 mol·L−1-3.3×10−2 mol·L−1, respectively. It was observed that a break appeared in the curve of fluorescence intensity with surfactant concentration. The critical micelle concentration (CMC, 7.9×10−3 mol·L−1) of SDS was obtained from this break point in a good agreement with the reported value. The fluorescence intensity increased initially with time and gradually stabilized. The results form the basis for further study of the properties and application of n-B18H22 in SDS solutions.

The non-central Cu+Au collisions can create strong out-of-plane magnetic fields and in-plane electric fields. By using the HIJING model, we study the general properties of the electromagnetic fields in Cu+Au collisions at 200 GeV and their impacts on the charge-dependent two-particle correlator γq1q2=〈cos⁡(ϕ1+ϕ2−2ψRP)〉 (see main text for definition) which was used for the detection of the chiral magnetic effect (CME). Compared with Au+Au collisions, we find that the in-plane electric fields in Cu+Au collisions can strongly suppress the two-particle correlator or even reverse its sign if the lifetime of the electric fields is long. Combining with the expectation that if γq1q2 is induced by elliptic-flow driven effects we would not see such strong suppression or reversion, our results suggest to use Cu+Au collisions to test CME and understand the mechanisms that underlie γq1q2.

We reexamine the azimuthal angle dependence of the local spin polarization of hyperons in heavy ion collisions at 200 GeV in the framework of the (3+1)-dimensional viscous hydrodynamic model CLVisc. Two different initial conditions are considered in our simulation: the optical Glauber initial condition without an initial orbital angular momentum and the AMPT initial condition with an initial orbital angular momentum. We find that the azimuthal angle dependence of the hyperon polarization strongly depends on the choice of the so-called spin chemical potential Ω_{μν}. With Ω_{μν} chosen to be proportional to the temperature vorticity, our simulation shows qualitatively coincidental results with the recent measurements at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider for both the longitudinal and the transverse polarization. We argue that such a coincidence may be related to the fact that the temperature vorticity is approximately conserved in the hot quark-gluon matter.