Thermal vorticity and spin polarization in heavy-ion collisions

TL;DR

This paper investigates the generation and evolution of thermal vorticity in heavy-ion collisions and its role in spin polarization of hyperons, offering insights into the vortical structure of quark-gluon plasma.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed study of thermal vorticity and hyperon spin polarization using the AMPT model across various energies and explores spin harmonic flow as a new probe.

Findings

Thermal vorticity is generated event-by-event in heavy-ion collisions.

Hyperon spin polarization varies with collision energy, momentum, and angle.

Spin harmonic flow offers a novel way to probe vortical structures.

Abstract

The hot and dense matter generated in heavy-ion collisions contains intricate vortical structure in which the local fluid vorticity can be very large. Such vorticity can polarize the spin of the produced particles. We study the event-by-event generation of the so-called thermal vorticity in Au + Au collisions at energy region $\sqrt{s}=7.7-200$ GeV and calculate its time evolution, spatial distribution, etc., in a multiphase transport (AMPT) model. We then compute the spin polarization of the $\Lambda$ and $\bar{\Lambda}$ hyperons as a function of $\sqrt{s}$, transverse momentum $p_T$, rapidity, and azimuthal angle. Furthermore, we study the harmonic flow of the spin, in a manner analogous to the harmonic flow of the particle number. The measurement of the spin harmonic flow may provide a way to probe the vortical structure in heavy-ion collisions. We also discuss the spin polarization of $\Xi^0$ and $\Omega^-$ hyperons which may provide further information about the spin polarization mechanism of hadrons.