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  1. Pair momentum dependence of a tilted source in heavy-ion collisions

    In noncentral heavy-ion collisions, the particle-emitting source can be tilted away from the beam direction, an effect that becomes particularly significant at collision energies of a few GeV and lower. This phenomenon, manifest itself in many observables such as directed flow, polarization, and vorticity, is therefore important to investigate. Here, in this paper, we study the consistency between the tilt extracted directly from the freeze-out distribution of pions and the tilt parameter obtained using the azimuthally sensitive femtoscopy (asHBT) method. Using the Ultrarelativistic Quantum Molecular Dynamics model, we demonstrate a strong dependence of the tilt parameter extracted with asHBT onmore » the momentum of the particle pair. Considering the experimental challenges in accessing low particle momenta—where the tilt parameter extracted with asHBT closely matches the tilt of the freeze-out distribution of pions—we propose an exponential extrapolation method to obtain the tilt of the entire freeze-out distribution. This approach aims to enhance the accuracy of experimental measurements of tilt in noncentral heavy-ion collisions.« less
  2. Vortex rings in event-by-event relativistic heavy-ion collisions

    We present event-by-event simulations for central asymmetric light+heavy and Au +Au collisions to investigate the formation and evolution of vortex-ring structures in the longitudinal flow velocity profile. The production-plane polarization of Λ hyperons, defined with respect to the Λ momentum and the beam, can track the “vortex-ring” feature in the event, a characteristic vortical structure generated by longitudinal flow gradients. We make comprehensive model predictions for the rapidity-dependent vortex-ring observables for different collision system sizes at √sNN = 200 and 72 GeV. Furthermore, our predictions at the latter energy can be explored in the future LHCb fixed-target experiment at themore » Large Hadron Collider.« less
  3. Λ polarization from vortex rings as the medium response for jet thermalization

    We performed a systematic study on the formation of vorticity rings as the process for jet thermalization in the medium created in high-energy nuclear collisions. In this work, we expanded our previous analysis to a more realistic framework by considering noncentral events and fluctuations in the initial condition. We simulate the formation and evolution of the flow vortex structure in a relativistic viscous hydrodynamic model and study the sensitivity of the proposed “ring observable” (ℛ$$^{𝑡}_{Λ}$$) that can be measured experimentally through the polarization of Λ hyperons. We show that this observable is robust with respect to fluctuating initial conditions tomore » capture the jet-induced vortex flow signal and further study its dependence on different model parameters, such as the jet's velocity, position, the fluid's shear viscosity, and the collision centrality. The proposed observable is associated with the formation of vorticity in a quark-gluon plasma, showing that the measurement of particle polarization can be a powerful tool to probe different properties of jet-medium interactions and to understand better the polarization induced by the transverse and longitudinal expansions of the medium.« less
  4. Vortex rings from high energy central 𝑝 + 𝐴 collisions

    Relativistic p + A collisions may produce droplets of quark gluon plasma (QGP) that quickly develop a toroidal vortex structure similar to that of an expanding smoke ring. We present viscous relativistic hydrodynamic calculations of ultra-central p + A collisions and develop an experimental observable to probe the structure, correlating the polarization and momentum of hyperons emitted from the collision. This effect is robust against changes in the definition of vorticity used to calculate the polarization. Experiments at RHIC and LHC may test the existence and strength of the vortex toroids, bringing new evidence to bear on the question ofmore » collectivity in the smallest QGP droplets.« less
  5. Λ polarization from thermalized jet energy

    We examine the formation of vortical “smoke rings” as a result of thermalization of energy lost by a jet. We simulate the formation and evolution of these rings using hydrodynamics and define an observable that allows to probe this phenomenon experimentally. We argue that observation of vorticity associated with jets would be an experimental confirmation of the thermalization of the energy lost by quenched jets, and also a probe of shear viscosity.
  6. Alternative methods for measurement of the global polarization of Λ hyperons

    We propose here alternative methods for measurement of the global polarization of Λ hyperons. These methods involve event averages of proton and Λ momenta in the laboratory frame. We carry out simulations using these methods and show that all of them work equally well in obtaining the global polarization of Λ hyperons.

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"Lisa, Michael Annan"

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