Pattern of global spin alignment of ϕ and K*0 mesons in heavy-ion collisions

Kód výsledku v IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F61389005%3A_____%2F23%3A00574016" target="_blank" >RIV/61389005:_____/23:00574016 - isvavai.cz</a>

Výsledek na webu

<a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05557-5" target="_blank" >https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05557-5</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05557-5" target="_blank" >10.1038/s41586-022-05557-5</a>

Jazyk výsledku

angličtina

Název v původním jazyce

Pattern of global spin alignment of ϕ and K*0 mesons in heavy-ion collisions

Popis výsledku v původním jazyce

Notwithstanding decades of progress since Yukawa first developed a description of the force between nucleons in terms of meson exchange(1), a full understanding of the strong interaction remains a considerable challenge in modern science. One remaining difficulty arises from the non-perturbative nature of the strong force, which leads to the phenomenon of quark confinement at distances on the order of the size of the proton. Here we show that, in relativistic heavy-ion collisions, in which quarks and gluons are set free over an extended volume, two species of produced vector (spin-1) mesons, namely phi and K-*0, emerge with a surprising pattern of global spin alignment. In particular, the global spin alignment for phi is unexpectedly large, whereas that for K-*0 is consistent with zero. The observed spin-alignment pattern and magnitude for phi cannot be explained by conventional mechanisms, whereas a model with a connection to strong force fields(2-6), that is, an effective proxy description within the standard model and quantum chromodynamics, accommodates the current data. This connection, if fully established, will open a potential new avenue for studying the behaviour of strong force fields.nnAt the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, observations of two meson species produced by heavy-ion collisions, phi and K-*0, show surprising patterns of global spin alignment, being unexpectedly large and consistent with zero, respectively.

Název v anglickém jazyce

Pattern of global spin alignment of ϕ and K*0 mesons in heavy-ion collisions

Popis výsledku anglicky

Notwithstanding decades of progress since Yukawa first developed a description of the force between nucleons in terms of meson exchange(1), a full understanding of the strong interaction remains a considerable challenge in modern science. One remaining difficulty arises from the non-perturbative nature of the strong force, which leads to the phenomenon of quark confinement at distances on the order of the size of the proton. Here we show that, in relativistic heavy-ion collisions, in which quarks and gluons are set free over an extended volume, two species of produced vector (spin-1) mesons, namely phi and K-*0, emerge with a surprising pattern of global spin alignment. In particular, the global spin alignment for phi is unexpectedly large, whereas that for K-*0 is consistent with zero. The observed spin-alignment pattern and magnitude for phi cannot be explained by conventional mechanisms, whereas a model with a connection to strong force fields(2-6), that is, an effective proxy description within the standard model and quantum chromodynamics, accommodates the current data. This connection, if fully established, will open a potential new avenue for studying the behaviour of strong force fields.nnAt the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, observations of two meson species produced by heavy-ion collisions, phi and K-*0, show surprising patterns of global spin alignment, being unexpectedly large and consistent with zero, respectively.

Druh

J_imp - Článek v periodiku v databázi Web of Science

CEP obor

—

OECD FORD obor

10304 - Nuclear physics

Projekt

—

Návaznosti

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Rok uplatnění

2023

Kód důvěrnosti údajů

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Název periodika

Nature

ISSN

0028-0836

e-ISSN

1476-4687

Svazek periodika

614

Číslo periodika v rámci svazku

7947

Stát vydavatele periodika

DE - Spolková republika Německo

Počet stran výsledku

19

Strana od-do

244-248

Kód UT WoS článku

000979948200003

EID výsledku v databázi Scopus

2-s2.0-85146473368