P-Odd Pion Azimuthal Charge Correlations in Heavy Ion Collisions

TL;DR

This paper proposes that topological fluctuations and instanton effects in polarized proton-proton scattering can lead to significant charge-dependent azimuthal correlations of pions in heavy ion collisions, aligning with experimental observations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel mechanism linking instanton-induced effects to charge-dependent azimuthal correlations in heavy ion collisions.

Findings

Results agree with STAR and ALICE measurements.

Topological fluctuations can produce observable charge correlations.

Magnetic field effects enhance the correlations.

Abstract

We argue that the large instanton induced Pauli form factor in polarized proton-proton scattering may cause, through topological fluctuations, substantial charge-dependent azimuthal correlations for pi^+/pi^- production in peripheral heavy ion collisions both at RHIC and LHC, thanks to the large induced magnetic field. Our results compare favorably to the measured pion azimuthal correlations by the STAR and ALICE collaborations.