Memory effect in Yang-Mills theory with an axion

TL;DR

This paper investigates the memory effect in Yang-Mills theory with an axion, highlighting gauge-invariant effects and implications for heavy ion collisions, including longitudinal and transverse memory kicks.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the classical and quantum memory effects in axion-coupled Yang-Mills theory, with explicit solutions and applications to heavy ion collision scenarios.

Findings

Probe particles acquire longitudinal null memory kicks.

Explicit gauge-invariant field strength effects are demonstrated.

Application to heavy ion collisions shows observable memory effects.

Abstract

We study the empirical realization of the memory effect in Yang-Mills theory with an axion-like particle, especially in view of the classical vs. quantum nature of the theory. We solve for the coupled equations of motion iteratively in the axionic contributions and explicitly display the gauge invariant effects in terms of field strengths. We apply our results in the context of heavy ion collisions, in the thin nuclear sheet limit, and point out that a probe particle traversing radiation train acquires a longitudinal null memory kick in addition to the usual transverse kick.