Event-by-event generation of vorticity in heavy-ion collisions

TL;DR

This paper investigates how fluid shear in noncentral heavy-ion collisions generates vorticity in quark-gluon matter, analyzing its characteristics and dependencies on collision parameters.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of vorticity generation, including its strength, energy dependence, and spatial distribution, in heavy-ion collisions.

Findings

Vorticity strength varies with collision centrality and beam energy.

Fluid shear in noncentral collisions produces measurable vorticity.

Vorticity distribution depends on collision geometry and energy.

Abstract

In a noncentral heavy-ion collision, the two colliding nuclei have finite angular momentum in the direction perpendicular to the reaction plane. After the collision, a fraction of the total angular momentum is retained in the produced hot quark-gluon matter and is manifested in the form of fluid shear. Such fluid shear creates finite flow vorticity. We study some features of such generated vorticity, including its strength, beam energy dependence, centrality dependence, and spatial distribution.