Estimation of the chiral magnetic effect considering the magnetic field response of the QGP medium

The magnetic field plays a major role in searching for the chiral magnetic effect in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. If the lifetime of the magnetic field is too short, as predicted by simulations of the field in vacuum, the chiral magnetic effect will be largely suppressed. However, the lifetime of the magnetic field will become longer when the QGP medium response is considered. We give an estimate of the effect, especially considering the magnetic field response of the QGP medium, and compare it with the experimental results for the background-subtracted correlator H at RHIC and LHC energies. The results show that our method explains the experimental results better at the top RHIC energy than at the LHC energy.     

Chiral Magnetic Effect and Chiral Phase Transition

We study the influence of the chiral phase transition on the chiral magnetic effect. The azimuthal charge-particle correlations as functions of the temperature are calculated. It is found that there is a pronounced cusp in the correlations as the temperature reaches its critical value for the QCD phase transition. It is predicted that there will be a drastic suppression of the charge-particle correlations as the collision energy in RHIC decreases to below a critical value. We show then the azimuthal charge-particle correlations can be the signal to identify the occurrence of the QCD phase transitions in RHIC energy scan experiments.     

相对论重离子碰撞手征电荷分离效应的研究

相对论重离子碰撞的拓扑荷作用破坏作用平面两侧不同手征性的夸克数目的平衡,从而引起P和CP破坏特征。本工作主要分析RHIC和LHC能区的手征电荷分离作用,分析手征电荷分离随碰撞中心度、碰撞能量和核屏蔽等依赖关系。并未发现手征电荷分离效应与碰撞能量大小有非常紧密的依赖关系,但发现核屏蔽效应对手征电荷分离有重要的影响,与不考虑屏蔽效应相比,考虑屏蔽效应会使手征分离效应明显压低,由于屏蔽效应出现,使得a₊₊（a_--）的分布与a_+-（a_-+）分布并不对称。并且还发现手征分离效应主要发生在碰撞参量较大的周边碰撞,越接近中心碰撞,手征分离效应几乎可以忽略。The topological charge interactions in relativistic heavy ion collisions cause quark chirality imbalance, resulting in charge separation under the strong magnetic field and local P and CP violation. In this paper, the chiral charge separation at RHIC and LHC energies is systematically analyzed as functions of the collision centrality, the collision energy and the nuclear shielding factor. It is found that there is not a very close dependence of the chiral charge separation effect on the collision energies, but that has an important dependence on nuclear shielding factor. Compared with the non-shielding effect, the shielding effect can reduce the chiral separation effect obviously. Due to the shielding effect, the distribution of a₊₊(a_--) and the distribution of a_+-(a_-+) are asymmetric. One also finds that chiral separation effect, which is almost negligible when more close to the central collision, occurs mainly in the peripheral collision for larger impact parameter.     

Disoriented chiral condensate: Theory and experiment

It is thought that a region of pseudo-vacuum, where the chiral order parameter is misaligned from its vacuum orientation in isospin space, might occasionally form in high-energy hadronic or nuclear collisions. The possible detection of such disoriented chiral condensate (DCC) would provide useful information about the chiral structure of the QCD vacuum and/or the chiral phase transition of strong interactions at high temperature. We review the theoretical developments concerning the possible DCC formation in high-energy collisions as well as the various experimental searches that have been performed so far. We discuss future prospects for upcoming DCC searches e.g. in high-energy heavy-ion collision experiments at RHIC and LHC.     

Chiral magnetic effect in SU(2) lattice gluodynamics at zero temperature

The chiral magnetic effect is the appearance of a quark electric current along a magnetic-field direction in topologically nontrivial gauge fields. There is evidence that this effect is observed in collisions between heavy ions at the RHIC collider. The features of the chiral magnetic effect in SU(2) lattice gluodynamics at zero temperature have been investigated. It has been found that the electric current increases in the magnetic-field direction owing to quantum fluctuations of gluon fields. Fluctuations of the local charge density and chirality also increase with the magnetic field strength, which is a signature of the chiral magnetic effect.     

相对论重离子碰撞的输运模型研究

美国的布鲁克海文国家实验室相对论重离子对撞机（RHIC）和欧洲核子中心的大型强子对撞机（LHC）的大量实验结果表明,在相对论重离子碰撞中已经产生了一种近似完美流体的强耦合部分子物质。基于一个多相粒子输运模型（AMPT）理论工具,对RHIC和LHC实验上的一些重要结果的开展了三个方面的理论研究工作（集体流、喷注淬火、手征磁效应）,研究结果揭示了初始的夸克胶子等离子体（QGP）能量密度涨落经过部分子输运演化产生末态粒子的各阶次的集体流、喷注和部分子物质的相互作用导致喷注的能量损失、末态相互作用严重影响手征磁效应的大小等物理过程作用机制。The experimental results from the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) show that a nearly perfect fluid (i.e. strong-coupling Quark Gluon Plasma) has been created in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. I introduce our theoretical results based on a multi-phase transport (AMPT) model. Several important topics such as collective flow, jet quenching, chiral magnetic effect, are addressed. The simulation results indicate that the initial fluctuations of energy density of the QGP lead to all orders of harmonic flows of final particles via parton cascade, the strong interactions between jet and the QGP make jet lose much energy, and the final state interactions play an important role to affect the initial chiral magnetic effect in relativistic heavy-ion collisions.     

Investigation of experimental observables in search of the chiral magnetic effect in heavy-ion collisions in the STAR experiment

The chiral magnetic effect(CME)is a novel transport phenomenon,arising from the interplay between quantum anomalies and strong magnetic fields in chiral systems.In high-energy nuclear collisions,the CME may survive the expansion of the quark-gluon plasma fireball and be detected in experiments.Over the past two decades,experimental searches for the CME have attracted extensive interest at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider(RHIC)and the Large Hadron Collider(LHC).The main goal of this study is to investigate three pertinent experimental approaches:the$\gamma$correlator,the R correlator,and the signed balance functions.We exploit simple Monte Carlo simulations and a realistic event generator(EBE-AVFD)to verify the equivalence of the core components among these methods and to ascertain their sensitivities to the CME signal and the background contributions for the isobar collisions at the RHIC.     

The chiral magnetic effect: Beam-energy and system-size dependence

We consider the energy dependence of the local P and CP violation in AuAu and CuCu collisions over a large energy range within a simple phenomenological model. It is expected that at LHC the chiral magnetic effect will be about 20 times weaker than at RHIC. At lower energy range this effect should vanish sharply at energy somewhere above the top SPS one. To elucidate CME background effects a transport model including magnetic field evolution is put forward.     

A systematical study of the chiral magnetic effects at the RHIC and LHC energies

Considering the magnetic field response of the QGP medium,we perform a systematical study of the chiral magnetic effect(CME),and make a comparison with the experimental results for the background-subtracted correlator H at the energies of the RHIC Beam Energy Scan(BES)and the LHC energy.The CME signals from our computations show a centrality trend and beam energy dependence that are qualitatively consistent with the experimental measurements of the charge dependent correlations.The time evolution of the chiral electromagnetic current at the RHIC and LHC energies is systematically studied.The dependence of the time-integrated current signal on the beam energy√s with different centralities is investigated.Our phenomenological analysis shows that the time-integrated electromagnetic current is maximal near the collision energy√s≈39 GeV.The qualitative trend of the induced electromagnetic current is in agreement with the CME experimental results at the RHIC and LHC energies.     

Evaluating results from the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider with perturbative QCD and hydrodynamics

We review the basic concepts of perturbative quantum chromodynamics (QCD) and relativistic hydrodynamics, and their applications to hadron production in high energy nuclear collisions. We discuss results from the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) in light of these theoretical approaches. Perturbative QCD and hydrodynamics together explain a large amount of experimental data gathered during the first decade of RHIC running, although some questions remain open. We focus primarily on practical aspects of the calculations, covering basic topics like perturbation theory, initial state nuclear effects, jet quenching models, ideal hydrodynamics, dissipative corrections, freeze-out and initial conditions. We conclude by comparing key results from RHIC to calculations.     

xF (or y)-Dependence of Nuclear Absorption and Energy Loss Effects onJ/ψ Production

By means of the nuclear parton distribution studied only with lepton deep-inelastic scattering experimental data, the J/ψ ``normal nuclear absorption' and energy loss effects are studied in a Glauber formalism at HERA and RHIC energies. Assuming that the absorption cross section σ_abs increases with thecharmonium-nucleon center of mass energy, the results reveal a significant dependence of the σ_abs on rapidity y at RHIC energies. The initial-state energy loss effect, which is found important only at HERA energies, is also considered, and its influence should be eliminated when we studied the absorption effect at low collision energies. Finally, we also present the theoretical prediction for LHC.     

Chiral electric field in relativistic heavy-ion collisions at energies available at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and at the CERN Large Hadron Collider

It has been proposed that electric fields may lead to chiral separation in quark-gluon plasma(QGP).This is called the chiral electric separation effect.The strong electromagnetic field and the QCD vacuum can both be completely produced in off-central nuclear-nuclear collision.We use the Woods-Saxon nucleon distribution to calculate the electric field distributions of off-central collisions.The chiral electric field spatial distribution at Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider(RHIC) and Large Hadron Collider(LHC) energy regions are systematically studied in this paper.The dependence of the electric field produced by the thermal quark in the central position with different impact parameters on the proper time with different collision energies in the RHIC and LHC energy regions are studied in this paper.     

QCD predictions for charm and bottom quark production at RHIC

We make up-to-date QCD predictions for open charm and bottom production at RHIC in nucleon-nucleon collisions at square root of S=200 GeV. We also calculate the electron spectrum resulting from heavy flavor decays to allow direct comparison to the data. A rigorous benchmark, including the theoretical uncertainties, is established against which nuclear collision data can be compared to obtain evidence for nuclear effects.     

Universal scaling of the elliptic flow data at RHIC

Recent PHOBOS measurements of the excitation function for the pseudo-rapidity dependence of the elliptic flow in Au + Au collisions at RHIC have posed a significant theoretical challenge. Here we show that these differential measurements, as well as the RHIC measurements on transverse momentum satisfy a universal scaling relation predicted by the Buda-Lund model, based on exact solutions of perfect fluid hydrodynamics. We also show that the recently found transverse kinetic energy scaling of the elliptic flow is a special case of this universal scaling.     

Observations of beam losses due to bound-free pair production in a heavy-ion collider

We report the first observations of beam losses due to bound-free pair production at the interaction point of a heavy-ion collider. This process is expected to be a major luminosity limit for the CERN Large Hadron Collider when it operates with (208)Pb(82+) ions because the localized energy deposition by the lost ions may quench superconducting magnet coils. Measurements were performed at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) during operation with 100 GeV/nucleon (63)Cu(29+) ions. At RHIC, the rate, energy and magnetic field are low enough so that magnet quenching is not an issue. The hadronic showers produced when the single-electron ions struck the RHIC beam pipe were observed using an array of photodiodes. The measurement confirms the order of magnitude of the theoretical cross section previously calculated by others.     

Ab Initio Nuclear Structure Theory: From Few to Many

We summarize recent advances in ab initio nuclear structure theory, aiming to connect few- and many-body systems in a coherent theoretical framework. Starting from chiral effective field theory to construct the nuclear Hamiltonian and the similarity renormalization group to soften it, we address several many-body approaches that have seen major developments over the past few years. We show that the domain of ab initio nuclear structure theory has been pushed well beyond the p-shell and that quantitative predictions connected to QCD via chiral effective field theory are becoming possible all the way from the proton to the neutron drip line up into the medium-mass regime.     

Jet quenching with running coupling including radiative and collisional energy losses

We calculate the nuclear modification factor for RHIC and LHC conditions accounting for the radiative and collisional parton energy loss with the running coupling constant. We find that the RHIC data can be explained both in the scenario with the chemically equilibrium quark-gluon plasma and purely gluonic plasma with slightly different thermal suppression of the coupling constant. The role of the parton energy gain due to gluon absorption is also investigated. Our results show that the energy gain gives negligible effect. The article is published in the original.     

Can a strong magnetic background modify the nature of the chiral transition in QCD?

The presence of a strong magnetic background can modify the nature and the dynamics of the chiral phase transition at finite temperature: for high enough magnetic fields, comparable to the ones expected to be created in noncentral high-energy heavy ion collisions at RHIC and the LHC, the original crossover is turned into a first-order transition. We illustrate this effect within the linear sigma model with quarks to one loop in the scheme for N_f=2.     

J/ψ-N center of mass energy dependence of nuclear absorption effect on J/ψ production

In this paper, the J/ψ nuclear absorption effect is studied at RHIC and LHC energies with the EKS98 shadowing parameterizations. By assuming that the J/ψ absorption cross section, σ abs , increases with the charmonium-nucleon (J/ψ-N) center of mass energy, s J/ψN , it is found that σ abs should depend on x F (or y) at a certain center of mass energy per nucleon pair,s , especially at LHC energies. The theoretical results with the x F (or y)-dependence of the absorption effect are in good agreement with the experiment data from PHENIX in d-Au collisions and the predicted results will be examined by the forthcoming experimental data from LHC in d-Pb collisions. Finally, we also present baseline calculations of cold nuclear matter effects on J/ψ production in nucleus-nucleus (A-A) collisions and find that the x F (or y)-dependence of absorption effect is very small at both RHIC and LHC energies in A-A collisions.