Rescattering effects on spin-interference for $\rho^{0}$ photoproduction in heavy-ion collisions

TL;DR

This paper investigates how rescattering effects in heavy-ion collisions impact spin-interference measurements of $ ho^{0}$ photoproduction, revealing a significant suppression of certain interference modulations.

Contribution

It introduces a combined modeling approach to quantify rescattering effects on spin-interference patterns in $ ho^{0}$ photoproduction within heavy-ion collisions.

Findings

Rescattering significantly suppresses the $ ext{cos}2 heta$ modulation.

The $ ext{cos}4 heta$ modulation remains largely unaffected.

Results help reconcile experimental data with theoretical models.

Abstract

Recent measurements by various experiments in ultra-peripheral collisions have observed spin-interference in $\rho^{0}$ photoproduction, marking a breakthrough in Fermi-scale quantum interference experiments. Building on this, STAR extended the measurement to hadronic heavy-ion collisions, where significant rescattering effects on $\rho^{0}$ mesons were expected. In this study, we investigate how these rescattering effects influence the measurement of spin-interference. By embedding $\rho^{0}$ mesons produced via photoproduction, modeled by the Vector Meson Dominance model, into the Ultrarelativistic Quantum Molecular Dynamics framework, we estimate the impact on the $\cos2\phi$ and $\cos4\phi$ modulations, where $\phi$ is the angle between $\rho^{0}$ and one of the daughters' ($\pi^{\pm}$) transverse momentum. The results indicate a significant suppression of the $\cos2\phi$ modulation, while the $\cos4\phi$ modulation remains largely unaffected, which provides insight for understanding the difference due to rescattering effects between experimental measurements and theoretical predictions for $\rho^{0}$ photoproduction in heavy-ion collisions.