arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Yi Yin.
We introduce a new mechanism for the chiral magnetic effect that does not require an initial chirality imbalance. The chiral magnetic current is generated by reconnections of magnetic flux that change the magnetic helicity of the system. The resulting current is entirely determined by the change of magnetic helicity, and it is quantized.
We investigate novel transport phenomena in a chiral fluid originated from an interplay between a vorticity and strong magnetic field, which induces a redistribution of vector charges in the system and an axial current along the magnetic field. The corresponding transport coefficients are obtained from an energy-shift argument for the chiral fermions in the lowest Landau level (LLL) due to a spin-vorticity coupling and also from diagrammatic computations on the basis of the linear response theory. Based on consistent results from the both methods, we observe that the transport coefficients are proportional to the anomaly coefficient and are independent of temperature and chemical potential. We therefore speculate that these transport phenomena are connected to quantum anomaly.
We study a heavy impurity moving longitudinal with the direction of an external magnetic field in an anomalous chiral medium. Such system would carry a non-dissipative current of chiral magnetic effect associated with the anomaly. We show, by generalizing Landau's criterion for superfluidity, that the "anomalous component" which gives rise to the anomalous transport will {\it not} contribute to the drag experienced by an impurity. We argue on a very general basis that those systems with a strong magnetic field would exhibit an interesting transport phenomenon -- the motion of the heavy impurity is frictionless, in analogy to the case of a superfluid. We demonstrate and confirm our general results with two complementary examples: weakly coupled chiral fermion gases and strongly interacting chiral liquids.
We compute the momentum diffusion coefficients of heavy quarks, $κ_\parallel$ and $κ_\perp$, in a strong magnetic field $B$ along the directions parallel and perpendicular to $B$, respectively, at the leading order in QCD coupling constant $α_s$. We consider a regime relevant for the relativistic heavy ion collisions, $α_s eB\ll T^2\ll eB$, so that thermal excitations of light quarks are restricted to the lowest Landau level (LLL) states. In the vanishing light-quark mass limit, we find $κ_\perp^{\rm LO}\propto α_s^2 T eB$ in the leading order that arises from screened Coulomb scatterings with (1+1)-dimensional LLL quarks, while $κ_\parallel$ gets no contribution from the scatterings with LLL quarks due to kinematic restrictions. We show that the first non-zero leading order contributions to $κ_\parallel^{\rm LO}$ come from the two separate effects: 1) the screened Coulomb scatterings with thermal gluons, and 2) a finite light-quark mass $m_q$. The former leads to $κ_\parallel^{\rm LO,\,gluon} \propto α_s^2 T^3$ and the latter to $κ_\parallel^{\rm LO,\,massive}\propto α_s (α_s eB)^{1/2} m_q^2$. Based on our results, we propose a new scenario for the large value of heavy-quark elliptic flow observed in RHIC and LHC. Namely, when $κ_\perp\ggκ_\parallel$, an anisotropy in drag forces gives rise to a sizable amount of the heavy-quark elliptic flow even if heavy quarks do not fully belong to an ellipsoidally expanding background fluid.
Matter with chiral fermions is microscopically described by theory with quantum anomaly and macroscopically described (at low energy) by anomalous hydrodynamics. For such systems in the presence of external magnetic field and chirality imbalance, a charge current is generated along the magnetic field direction --- a phenomenon known as the Chiral Magnetic Effect (CME). The quark-gluon plasma created in relativistic heavy ion collisions provides an (approximate) example, for which the CME predicts a charge separation perpendicular to the collisional reaction plane. Charge correlation measurements designed for the search of such signal have been done at RHIC and the LHC for which the interpretations, however, remain unclear due to contamination by background effects that are collective flow driven, theoretically poorly constrained, and experimentally hard to separate. Using anomalous (and viscous) hydrodynamic simulations, we make a first attempt at quantifying contributions to observed charge correlations from both CME and background effects in one and same framework. The implications for the search of CME are discussed.
For systems with charged chiral fermions, the imbalance of chirality in the presence of magnetic field generates an electric current - this is the Chiral Magnetic Effect (CME). We study the dynamical real-time evolution of electromagnetic fields coupled by the anomaly to the chiral charge density and the CME current by solving the Maxwell-Chern-Simons equations. We find that the CME induces the inverse cascade of magnetic helicity towards the large distances, and that at late times this cascade becomes self-similar, with universal exponents. We also find that in terms of gauge field topology the inverse cascade represents the transition from linked electric and magnetic fields (Hopfions) to the knotted configuration of magnetic field (Chandrasekhar-Kendall states). The magnetic reconnections are accompanied by the pulses of the CME current directed along the magnetic field lines. We devise an experimental signature of these phenomena in heavy ion collisions, and speculate about implications for condensed matter systems.
We study the charmonium dissociation in a strongly coupled chiral plasma in the presence of magnetic field and axial charge imbalance. This type of plasma carries "anomalous flow" induced by the chiral anomaly and exhibits novel transport phenomena such as chiral magnetic effect. We found that the "anomalous flow" would modify the charmonium color screening length by using the gauge/gravity correspondence. We derive an analytical expression quantifying the "anomalous flow" experienced by a charmonium for a large class of chiral plasma with a gravity dual. We elaborate on the similarity and {\it qualitative} difference between anomalous effects on the charmonium color screening length which are {\it model-dependent} and those on the heavy quark drag force which are fixed by the second law of thermodynamics. We speculate on the possible charmonium dissociation induced by the chiral anomaly in heavy ion collisions.
We report on recent progress in the study of the evolution of non-Gaussian cumulants of critical fluctuations. We explore the implications of non-equilibrium effects on the search for the QCD critical point.
We report our recent progress on the search of Chiral Magnetic Effect (CME) by developing new measurements as well as by hydrodynamic simulations of CME and background effects, with both approaches addressing the pressing issue of separating flow-driven background contributions and possible CME signal in current heavy ion collision measurements.
We derive a coupled set of equations that describe the non-equilibrium evolution of cumulants of critical fluctuations for space-time trajectories on the cross-over side of the QCD phase diagram. In particular, novel expressions are obtained for the non-equilibrium evolution of non-Gaussian Skewness and Kurtosis cumulants. Utilizing a simple model of the space-time evolution of a heavy- ion collision, we demonstrate that, depending on the relaxation rate of critical fluctuations, Skewness and Kurtosis can differ significantly in magnitude as well as in sign from equilibrium expectations. Memory effects are important and shown to persist even for trajectories that skirt the edge of the critical regime. We use phenomenologically motivated parameterizations of freeze-out curves, and of the beam energy dependence of the net baryon chemical potential, to explore the implications of our model study for the critical point search in heavy-ion collisions.
Axial charge imbalance is an essential ingredient in novel effects associated with chiral anomaly such as chiral magnetic effects (CME). In a non-Abelian plasma with chiral fermions, local axial charge can be generated a) by topological fluctuations which would create domains with non-zero winding number b) by conventional non-topological thermal fluctuations. We provide a holographic evaluations of medium's response to dynamically generated axial charge density in hydrodynamic limit and examine if medium's response depends on the microscopic origins of axial charge imbalance. We show a local domain with non-zero winding number would induce a non-dissipative axial current due to chiral anomaly. We illustrate holographically that a local axial charge imbalance would be damped out with the damping rate related to Chern-Simon diffusive constant. By computing chiral magnetic current in the presence of dynamically generated axial charge density, we found that the ratio of CME current over the axial charge density is independent of the origin of axial charge imbalance in low frequency and momentum limit. Finally, a stochastic hydrodynamic equation of the axial charge is formulated by including both types of fluctuations.
The dynamics of topological domains which break parity (${\cal P}$) and charge-parity (${\cal CP}$) symmetry of QCD are studied. We derive in a general setting that those local domains will generate an axial current and quantify the strength of the induced axial current. Our findings are verified in a top-down holographic model. The relation between the real time dynamics of those local domains and chiral magnetic effect is also elucidated. We finally argue that such an induced axial current would be phenomenologically important if topological domains are created in heavy-ion collisions experiment.
We study collective excitations in systems described by chiral kinetic theory in external magnetic field. We consider high-temperature weak-coupling plasma, as well as high-density Landau Fermi liquid with interaction not restricted to be weak. We show that chiral magnetic wave (CMW) emerges in hydrodynamic regime (at frequencies smaller than collision relaxation rate) and the CMW velocity is determined by thermodynamic properties only. We find that in a plasma of opposite chiralities, at frequencies smaller than the chirality-flipping rate, the CMW excitation turns into a vector-like diffusion mode. In the interacting Fermi liquid, the CMW turns into the Landau zero sound mode in the high-frequency collisionless regime.
We extract the electrical conductivity $σ_0$ of the quark gluon plasma(QGP) and study the effects of magnetic field and chiral anomaly on soft photon azimuthal anisotropy, $v_2$, based on the thermal photon spectrum at $0.4GeV<p_{\perp}<0.6GeV$ at RHIC energy. As a basis for our analysis, we derive the behavior of retarded photon self energy of a strongly interacting neutral plasma in hydrodynamic regime in the presence of magnetic field and chiral anomaly. By evolving the resulting soft thermal photon production rate over the realistic hydrodynamic background and comparing the results with the preliminary data from the PHENIX Collaboration, we found that the electrical conductivity at QGP temperature is in the range: $0.4<σ_0/(e^{2}T) <1.1$, which is comparable with recent studies on lattice. We also compare the contribution from the magnetic field and chiral anomaly to soft thermal photon $v_{2}$ with the data. We argue that at LHC, the chiral magnetic wave would give negative contribution to photon $v_2$.
The unclear relationship between cuprate superconductivity and the pseudogap state remains an impediment to understanding the high transition temperature (Tc) superconducting mechanism. Here we employ magnetic-field-dependent scanning tunneling microscopy to provide phase-sensitive proof that d-wave superconductivity coexists with the pseudogap on the antinodal Fermi surface of an overdoped cuprate. Furthermore, by tracking the hole doping (p) dependence of the quasiparticle interference pattern within a single Bi-based cuprate family, we observe a Fermi surface reconstruction slightly below optimal doping, indicating a zero-field quantum phase transition in notable proximity to the maximum superconducting Tc. Surprisingly, this major reorganization of the system's underlying electronic structure has no effect on the smoothly evolving pseudogap.
Chiral Magnetic Wave (CMW) is a gapless collective excitation of chiral charges along the direction of magnetic field in the Quark-Gluon Plasma that arises from the triangle anomaly of QCD. We perform reliable study of the CMW in the realistic simulation of heavy ion collisions, and find that the CMW contributions to the charge dependent elliptic flow of pions, $Δv_2 = v_2(π^-)-v_2(π^+)$, linearly depending on the net charge asymmetry $A_\pm\equiv (N_+-N_-)/(N_++N_-)$ with a positive slope $r$, is comparable to the recent experimental results from RHIC. We identify "Freezeout Hole Effect", which is a direct consequence of the propagation of CMW during the realistic evolution of fireball, as the dominant physics effect responsible for a sizable contribution from the CMW to the slope parameter $r$, and emphasize that a proper treatment of the freeze out condition is crucial in any reliable computation of the CMW contribution to the slope parameter $r$. We also implement chiral phase transition effect in our study, which illustrates the sensitivity of the results to chiral phase transition temperature, and suggest that the CMW can be an important probe of QCD chiral phase transition. Our results on the impact parameter dependence compare well with the RHIC experiments. We also give predictions for the LHC energy.
We introduce a novel approach to study the longitudinal hydrodynamic expansion of the quark-gluon fluid created in heavy-ion collisions. It consists of two steps: First, we apply the maximum entropy method to reconstruct the freeze-out surface from experimentally measured particle distribution. We then take the output of the reconstruction as the "initial" condition to evolve the system back in time by solving the 1+1 ideal hydrodynamic equations analytically, using the method of Khalatnikov and Landau. We find an approximate Bjorken-like plateau in the energy density vs rapidity profile at the early times, which shrinks with time as the boundary shocks propagate inward. In Bjorken frame, the fluid velocity is close to zero within the plateau, as in the Bjorken solution, but increases outside the plateau. The results carry implications for fully numerical hydrodynamic simulations as well as models of heavy-ion collisions based on gauge-gravity duality.
We show that Lorentz invariance is realized nontrivially in the classical action of a massless spin-$\frac12$ particle with definite helicity. We find that the ordinary Lorentz transformation is modified by a shift orthogonal to the boost vector and the particle momentum. The shift ensures angular momentum conservation in particle collisions and implies a nonlocality of the collision term in the Lorentz-invariant kinetic theory due to side jumps. We show that 2/3 of the chiral-vortical effect for a uniformly rotating particle distribution can be attributed to the magnetic moment coupling required by the Lorentz invariance. We also show how the classical action can be obtained by taking the classical limit of the path integral for a Weyl particle.