Free magnetized knots of parity-violating deconfined matter in heavy-ion collisions

TL;DR

This paper proposes that local parity violation in quark-gluon plasma can lead to the formation of stable, magnetized knots with unique properties, potentially observable in heavy-ion collision experiments.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of stable, magnetized knots of deconfined matter stabilized by magnetic fields, a novel state supported by parity violation in quark-gluon plasma.

Findings

Knots are stabilized by superstrong magnetic fields.

Size of knots is quantized and related to chiral conductivity.

Particles from knots exhibit unusual azimuthal distributions.

Abstract

We show that the local parity violation in the quark-gluon plasma supports existence of free (meta)stable knots of deconfined hot quark matter stabilized by superstrong magnetic fields. The magnetic field in the knots resembles the spheromak plasma state of the magnetic confinement approach to nuclear fusion. The size of the knot is quantized, being inversely proportional to the chiral conductivity of the quark-gluon plasma. The parity symmetry is broken inside the knot. Particles produced in the decays of the knots have unusual azimuthal distribution and specific flavor content. We argue that these knots may be created in noncentral heavy-ion collisions.