Towards laboratory detection of topological vortices in superfluid phases of QCD

TL;DR

This paper explores the potential for laboratory detection of topological vortices in superfluid phases of QCD through heavy-ion collision experiments, using hydrodynamic simulations to identify observable signatures.

Contribution

It introduces a method to detect superfluid vortices in QCD phases via flow fluctuation analysis in heavy-ion collisions, linking laboratory experiments to astrophysical phenomena.

Findings

Vortices influence the power spectrum of flow fluctuations.

Hydrodynamic simulations suggest detectable signatures of vortices.

Potential to confirm superfluid phases of QCD experimentally.

Abstract

Topological defects arise in a variety of systems, e.g. vortices in superfluid helium to cosmic strings in the early universe. There is an indirect evidence of neutron superfluid vortices from glitches in pulsars. One also expects that topological defects may arise in various high baryon density phases of quantum chromodynamics (QCD), e.g. superfluid topological vortices in the color flavor locked (CFL) phase. Though vastly different in energy/length scales, there are universal features, e.g. in the formation of all these defects. Utilizing this universality, we investigate the possibility of detecting these topological superfluid vortices in laboratory experiments, namely heavy-ion collisions. Using hydrodynamic simulations, we show that vortices can qualitatively affect the power spectrum of flow fluctuations. This can give unambiguous signal for superfluid transition resulting in vortices, allowing for check of defect formation theories in a relativistic quantum field theory system, and the detection of superfluid phases of QCD. Detection of nucleonic superfluid vortices in low energy heavy-ion collisions will give opportunity for laboratory controlled study of their properties, providing crucial inputs for the physics of pulsars.