Polarization probes of vorticity in heavy ion collisions

By B. Betz, M. Gyulassy, G. Torrieri. 2007

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We discuss the information that can be deduced from a measurement of hadron (hyperon or vector meson) polarization in ultrarelativistic nuclear collisions. We describe the sensitivity of polarization to initial conditions, hydrodynamic evolution and mean free path, and find that the polarization observable is sensitive to all details and stages of the system’s evolution. We suggest that an experimental investigation covering production plane and reaction plane polarizations, as well as the polarization of jet-associated particles in the plane defined by the jet and particle direction, can help in disentangling the factors contributing to this observable. Scans of polarization in energy and rapidity might also point to a change in the system’s properties. PACS numbers: 25.75.-q, 13.88.+e, 12.38.Mh, 25.75.Nq Parity violation, together with the self-analyzing nature of hyperon decays, provides us with the opportunity to study the polarization of hyperons produced in heavy ion collisions: In the rest frame of the hyperon Y , the angular decay distribution w.r.t. the polarization plane is [1] dN dθ = 1 + αY PY cos(θ) (1)

Subfields: Nuclear and High Energy Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/620f0b3e8682ece67cd947c267911e4135eac93c

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