Magnetic screening in high-energy heavy-ion collisions

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that classical chromomagnetic fields in high-energy heavy-ion collisions exhibit magnetic screening, with the magnetic mass significantly influencing the initial state dynamics and Wilson loop behavior.

Contribution

It provides the first calculation of magnetic screening in the initial chromomagnetic fields of heavy-ion collisions using the two-point correlator.

Findings

Magnetic mass for SU(2) is approximately 5 times the saturation scale.

Magnetic screening explains the area law scaling of spatial Wilson loops.

Initial state screening effects support defining early-stage kinetic processes.

Abstract

We show that classical chromomagnetic fields produced coherently in the initial stage of a heavy-ion collision exhibit screening. From the two-point field strength correlator we determine the magnetic mass for SU(2) to be m ~ 5 times the saturation scale. Magnetic screening leads to an intuitive understanding of the area law scaling of spatial Wilson loops observed previously. The presence of screening effects in the initial state provides a basis for defining kinetic processes in the early stage of heavy-ion collisions, with electric and magnetic masses of the same order.