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

doi:10.1038/s41586-022-05557-5

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

Physics And Astronomy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

Notwithstanding decades of progress since Yukawa first developed a description of the force between nucleons in terms of meson exchange¹, 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 ϕ and K^*0, emerge with a surprising pattern of global spin alignment. In particular, the global spin alignment for ϕ is unexpectedly large, whereas that for K^*0 is consistent with zero. The observed spin-alignment pattern and magnitude for ϕ 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.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	244-248
Number of pages	5
Journal	Nature
Volume	614
Issue number	7947
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05557-5
State	Published - Feb 9 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank the RHIC Operations Group and RCF at BNL, the NERSC Center at LBNL and the Open Science Grid Consortium for providing resources and support. This work was supported in part by the Office of Nuclear Physics within the U.S. DOE Office of Science, the U.S. National Science Foundation, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China and the Chinese Ministry of Education, the Higher Education Sprout Project by Ministry of Education at NCKU, the National Research Foundation of Korea, the Czech Science Foundation and Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic, the Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office, New National Excellency Programme of the Hungarian Ministry of Human Capacities, Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Science and Technology of the Government of India, the National Science Centre of Poland, the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of the Republic of Croatia, German Bundesministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft, Forschung und Technologie (BMBF), Helmholtz Association, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General

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10.1038/s41586-022-05557-5

Cite this

@article{76f6f16c55e64f76916d765d3d4b66fb,

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

abstract = "Notwithstanding decades of progress since Yukawa first developed a description of the force between nucleons in terms of meson exchange1, 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 ϕ and K*0, emerge with a surprising pattern of global spin alignment. In particular, the global spin alignment for ϕ is unexpectedly large, whereas that for K*0 is consistent with zero. The observed spin-alignment pattern and magnitude for ϕ cannot be explained by conventional mechanisms, whereas a model with a connection to strong force fields2–6, 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.",

author = "Abdallah, {M. S.} and Aboona, {B. E.} and J. Adam and L. Adamczyk and Adams, {J. R.} and Adkins, {J. K.} and G. Agakishiev and I. Aggarwal and Aggarwal, {M. M.} and Z. Ahammed and A. Aitbaev and I. Alekseev and Anderson, {D. M.} and A. Aparin and Aschenauer, {E. C.} and Ashraf, {M. U.} and Atetalla, {F. G.} and Averichev, {G. S.} and V. Bairathi and W. Baker and {Ball Cap}, {J. G.} and K. Barish and A. Behera and R. Bellwied and P. Bhagat and A. Bhasin and J. Bielcik and J. Bielcikova and Bordyuzhin, {I. G.} and Brandenburg, {J. D.} and Brandin, {A. V.} and Cai, {X. Z.} and H. Caines and {Calder{\'o}n de la Barca S{\'a}nchez}, M. and D. Cebra and I. Chakaberia and P. Chaloupka and Chan, {B. K.} and Chang, {F. H.} and Z. Chang and A. Chatterjee and S. Chattopadhyay and D. Chen and J. Chen and Chen, {J. H.} and X. Chen and Z. Chen and J. Cheng and S. Choudhury and R. Fatemi",

note = "Funding Information: We thank the RHIC Operations Group and RCF at BNL, the NERSC Center at LBNL and the Open Science Grid Consortium for providing resources and support. This work was supported in part by the Office of Nuclear Physics within the U.S. DOE Office of Science, the U.S. National Science Foundation, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China and the Chinese Ministry of Education, the Higher Education Sprout Project by Ministry of Education at NCKU, the National Research Foundation of Korea, the Czech Science Foundation and Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic, the Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office, New National Excellency Programme of the Hungarian Ministry of Human Capacities, Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Science and Technology of the Government of India, the National Science Centre of Poland, the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of the Republic of Croatia, German Bundesministerium f{\"u}r Bildung, Wissenschaft, Forschung und Technologie (BMBF), Helmholtz Association, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.",

year = "2023",

month = feb,

day = "9",

doi = "10.1038/s41586-022-05557-5",

language = "English",

volume = "614",

pages = "244--248",

number = "7947",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Pattern of global spin alignment of ϕ and K*0 mesons in heavy-ion collisions

AU - Abdallah, M. S.

AU - Aboona, B. E.

AU - Adam, J.

AU - Adamczyk, L.

AU - Adams, J. R.

AU - Adkins, J. K.

AU - Agakishiev, G.

AU - Aggarwal, I.

AU - Aggarwal, M. M.

AU - Ahammed, Z.

AU - Aitbaev, A.

AU - Alekseev, I.

AU - Anderson, D. M.

AU - Aparin, A.

AU - Aschenauer, E. C.

AU - Ashraf, M. U.

AU - Atetalla, F. G.

AU - Averichev, G. S.

AU - Bairathi, V.

AU - Baker, W.

AU - Ball Cap, J. G.

AU - Barish, K.

AU - Behera, A.

AU - Bellwied, R.

AU - Bhagat, P.

AU - Bhasin, A.

AU - Bielcik, J.

AU - Bielcikova, J.

AU - Bordyuzhin, I. G.

AU - Brandenburg, J. D.

AU - Brandin, A. V.

AU - Cai, X. Z.

AU - Caines, H.

AU - Calderón de la Barca Sánchez, M.

AU - Cebra, D.

AU - Chakaberia, I.

AU - Chaloupka, P.

AU - Chan, B. K.

AU - Chang, F. H.

AU - Chang, Z.

AU - Chatterjee, A.

AU - Chattopadhyay, S.

AU - Chen, D.

AU - Chen, J.

AU - Chen, J. H.

AU - Chen, X.

AU - Chen, Z.

AU - Cheng, J.

AU - Choudhury, S.

AU - Fatemi, R.

N1 - Funding Information: We thank the RHIC Operations Group and RCF at BNL, the NERSC Center at LBNL and the Open Science Grid Consortium for providing resources and support. This work was supported in part by the Office of Nuclear Physics within the U.S. DOE Office of Science, the U.S. National Science Foundation, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China and the Chinese Ministry of Education, the Higher Education Sprout Project by Ministry of Education at NCKU, the National Research Foundation of Korea, the Czech Science Foundation and Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic, the Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office, New National Excellency Programme of the Hungarian Ministry of Human Capacities, Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Science and Technology of the Government of India, the National Science Centre of Poland, the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of the Republic of Croatia, German Bundesministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft, Forschung und Technologie (BMBF), Helmholtz Association, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.

PY - 2023/2/9

Y1 - 2023/2/9

N2 - Notwithstanding decades of progress since Yukawa first developed a description of the force between nucleons in terms of meson exchange1, 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 ϕ and K*0, emerge with a surprising pattern of global spin alignment. In particular, the global spin alignment for ϕ is unexpectedly large, whereas that for K*0 is consistent with zero. The observed spin-alignment pattern and magnitude for ϕ cannot be explained by conventional mechanisms, whereas a model with a connection to strong force fields2–6, 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.

AB - Notwithstanding decades of progress since Yukawa first developed a description of the force between nucleons in terms of meson exchange1, 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 ϕ and K*0, emerge with a surprising pattern of global spin alignment. In particular, the global spin alignment for ϕ is unexpectedly large, whereas that for K*0 is consistent with zero. The observed spin-alignment pattern and magnitude for ϕ cannot be explained by conventional mechanisms, whereas a model with a connection to strong force fields2–6, 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.

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