Spin polarization in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

Polarization has opened a new physics chapter in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Since the first prediction and experimental observation of global spin polarization, a lot of progress has been made in understanding its features, both at experimental and theoretical level. In this paper, we give an overview on the recent advances in this field. The covered topics include a review of measurements of global and local spin polarization of hyperons and the global spin alignment of vector mesons. We account for the basic theoretical framework to describe spin polarization in a relativistic fluid such as the Quark Gluon Plasma, including statistical quantum field theory and local thermodynamic equilibrium, spin hydrodynamics, relativistic kinetic theory with spin and coalescence models.
Comment: RevTeX 4, 41 pages, 12 figures, review article as a book chapter for QGP6