Dynamical magnetic fields in heavy-ion collisions

The magnetic fields in heavy-ion collisions are important ingredients for many interesting phenomena, such as the chiral magnetic effect, the chiral magnetic wave, the directed flow v1 of D0 mesons, and the splitting of the spin polarization of the Lambda/(Lambda) over bar over bar . Quantitative studies of these phenomena, however, suffer from limited understanding of the dynamical evolution of these fields in the medium created by the collisions, which remains a critical and challenging problem. The initial magnetic fields from the colliding nuclei decay very fast in the vacuum but their lifetime could be extended through medium response due to electrically conducting quarks and antiquarks. Here we perform a detailed analysis of such medium effect on the dynamical magnetic fields by numerically solving Maxwell's equations concurrently with the expanding medium described by viscous hydrodynamics, under the assumption of negligible back reaction of the fields on the fluid evolution. Our results suggest a considerable enhancement of late time magnetic fields, the magnitude of which depends sensitively on the fireball expansion as well as the medium electric conductivity both before and during hydrodynamic stage.

Automated summary

The magnetic fields in heavy-ion collisions play important roles in various phenomena, including the chiral magnetic effect, the chiral magnetic wave, the directed flow v1 of D0 mesons, and the splitting of the spin polarization of the Lambda/(Lambda) over bar over bar. However, understanding the dynamical evolution of these fields in the created medium is still a critical and challenging problem. In this study, we analyze the medium effect on the dynamical magnetic fields by numerically solving Maxwell's equations coupled with viscous hydrodynamics. Our results indicate a significant enhancement of late time magnetic fields, which depends sensitively on the expansion of the fireball and the medium electric conductivity.