Searcharxiv⌕ Search

arXiv subjects

Zuo-Tang Liang

Publications and source records attributed to Zuo-Tang Liang.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

Weyl anomaly induced transport in hydrodynamics

We show that the Weyl (trace) anomaly gives rise to a new non-dissipative vector current in accelerated relativistic fluids. The anomaly uniquely fixes the second-order transport coefficient governing the coupling between the electromagnetic field and the fluid acceleration. We derive this result by extending hydrodynamic anomaly matching to include the trace anomaly, and independently reproduce it in boundary quantum field theory by treating the Rindler horizon of an accelerated observer as an effective boundary. From the boundary perspective, the electric- and magnetic-field sectors correspond to screening and vacuum magnetization effects near the boundary. In the local rest frame, the electric-field contribution induces an additional charge density, while the magnetic-field contribution generates a transverse current with a Nernst-like, more generally thermomagnetic Hall-like, tensor structure. Our results reveal a new class of anomaly-induced transport governed by the trace anomaly.

hep-th↗
arXiv2025

Searching for True Muonium in Relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions

We investigate the production of the as-yet-undetected true muonium within the quark-gluon plasma formed in relativistic heavy-ion collisions, employing a relativistic Boltzmann transport framework coupled to viscous hydrodynamic simulations. The obtained effective cross sections for central collisions are 1.23~$\mu b$ in AuAu collisions with $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=200$~GeV and 14.2~$\mu b$ in PbPb collisions with $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=5.02$~TeV, resulting in a yield of $\mathcal{O}(10^4)$ and $\mathcal{O}(10^5)$ true muonium per billion $AA$ collisions at RHIC and the LHC, respectively. This establishes heavy-ion collisions as a promising process for detecting true muonium.

nucl-th↗
arXiv2024

Vector meson's spin alignments in high energy reactions

The global spin alignment of vector mesons has been observed by the STAR collaboration at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). It provides a unique opportunity to probe the correlation between the polarized quark and antiquark in the strongly coupled quark-gluon plasma (sQGP) produced in relativistic heavy ion collisions, opening a new window to explore the properties of sQGP. In addition, spin alignments of vector mesons have also been observed in other high-energy particle collisions such as $e^+e^-$ annihilations at high energies where hadron production is dominated by quark fragmentation mechanism. The results obtained are quite different from those obtained in heavy ion collisions where quark coalescence/combination mechanism dominates suggesting strong dependence on hadronization mechanisms. So comprehensive studies in different hadronization processes are needed. In this article, we present a brief review of theoretical and experimental advances in the study of vector meson's spin alignments in a variety of high-energy particle collisions, with emphasis on hadronization mechanisms.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2023

Spin alignment of vector mesons in heavy-ion collisions

Polarized quarks and antiquarks in high-energy heavy-ion collisions can lead to the spin alignment of vector mesons formed by quark coalescence. Using the relativistic spin Boltzmann equation for vector mesons derived from Kadanoff-Baym equations with an effective quark-meson model for strong interaction and quark coalescence model for hadronizaton, we calculate the spin density matrix element $ρ_{00}$ for $ϕ$ mesons and show that anisotropies of local field correlations or fluctuations with respect to the spin quantization direction lead to $ϕ$ meson's spin alignment. We propose that the local correlation or fluctuation of $ϕ$ fields is the dominant mechanism for the observed the $ϕ$ meson's spin alignment and its strength can be extracted from experimental data as functions of collision energies. The calculated transverse momentum dependence of $ρ_{00}$ agrees with STAR's data. We further predict the azimuthal angle dependence of $ρ_{00}$ which can be tested in future experiments.

nucl-th↗
arXiv2023

Relativistic spin dynamics for vector mesons

We propose a relativistic theory for spin density matrices of vector mesons based on Kadanoff-Baym equations in the closed-time-path formalism. The theory puts the calculation of spin observables such as the spin density matrix element $ρ_{00}$ for vector mesons on a solid ground. Within the theory we formulate $ρ_{00}$ for $ϕ$ mesons into a factorization form in separation of momentum and space-time variables. We argue that the main contribution to $ρ_{00}$ at lower energies should be from the $ϕ$ fields that can polarize the strange quark and antiquark in the same way as electromagnetic fields. The key observation is that there is correlation inside the $ϕ$ meson wave function between the $ϕ$ field that polarizes the strange quark and that polarizes the strange antiquark. This is reflected by the fact that the contributions to $ρ_{00}$ are all in squares of fields which are nonvanishing even if the fields may strongly fluctuate in space-time. The fluctuation of strong force fields can be extracted from $ρ_{00}$ of quarkonium vector mesons as links to fundamental properties of quantum chromodynamics.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2022

Constraining non-dissipative transport coefficients in global equilibrium

The fluid in global equilibrium must fulfill some constraints. These constraints can be derived from quantum statistical theory or kinetic theory. In this paper we will show that how these constraints can be applied to determine the non-dissipative transport coefficients for chiral systems along with the energy-momentum conservation, chiral anomaly for charge current and trace anomaly in energy-momentum tensor.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2021

Global polarization effect and spin-orbit coupling in strong interaction

In non-central high energy heavy ion collisions the colliding system posses a huge orbital angular momentum in the direction opposite to the normal of the reaction plane. Due to the spin-orbit coupling in strong interaction, such huge orbital angular momentum leads to the polarization of quarks and anti-quarks in the same direction. This effect, known as the global polarization effect, has been recently observed by STAR Collaboration at RHIC that confirms the theoretical prediction made more than ten years ago. The discovery has attracted much attention on the study of spin effects in heavy ion collision. It opens a new window to study properties of QGP and a new direction in high energy heavy ion physics -- Spin Physics in Heavy Ion Collisions. In this chapter, we review the original ideas and calculations that lead to the predictions. We emphasize the role played by spin-orbit coupling in high energy spin physics and discuss the new opportunities and challenges in this connection.

nucl-th↗
arXiv2021

Quantum kinetic theory for spin-1/2 fermions in Wigner function formalism

We give a brief overview of the kinetic theory for spin-1/2 fermions in Wigner function formulism. The chiral and spin kinetic equations can be derived from equations for Wigner functions. A general Wigner function has 16 components which satisfy 32 coupled equations. For massless fermions, the number of independent equations can be significantly reduced due to the decoupling of left-handed and right-handed particles. It can be proved that out of many components of Wigner functions and their coupled equations, only one kinetic equation for the distribution function is independent. This is called the disentanglement theorem for Wigner functions of chiral fermions. For massive fermions, it turns out that one particle distribution function and three spin distribution functions are independent and satisfy four kinetic equations. Various chiral and spin effects such as chiral magnetic and votical effects, the chiral seperation effect, spin polarization effects can be consistently described in the formalism.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2020

Second-order Charge Currents and Stress Tensor in Chiral System

We solve the Wigner equation for massless spin-1/2 charged fermions near global equilibrium. The Wigner function can be obtained order by order in the power expansion of the vorticity and electromagnetic field. The Wigner function has been derived up to the second order from which the non-dissipative charge currents and the stress tensor can be obtained. The charge and energy densities and the pressure have contributions from the vorticity and electromagnetic field at the second order. The vector and axial Hall currents can be induced along the direction orthogonal to the vorticity and electromagnetic field at the second order. We also find that the trace anomaly emerges natually in renormalizing the stress tensor by including the quantum correction from the electromagnetic field.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2019

Rapidity dependence of global polarization in heavy ion collisions

We use a geometric model for the hadron polarization with an emphasis on the rapidity dependence. It is based on the model of Brodsky, Gunion, and Kuhn and that of the Bjorken scaling. We make predictions for the rapidity dependence of the hadron polarization in the collision energy range 7.7-200 GeV by taking a few assumed forms of the parameters. The predictions can be tested by future experiments.

nucl-th↗
arXiv2019

Global Polarization Effect in the Extremely Rapidly Rotating QGP in HIC

This is prepared for a featured article in Nuclear Physics News. Recently, the global polarization of Λand \barΛ hyperons in heavy-ion collisions (HIC) has been observed by the STAR Collaboration at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider in Brookhaven National Laboratory. The discovery confirms the theoretical prediction made more than ten years ago and indicates that the quark gluon plasma (QGP) produced in HIC possesses a vorticity as high as 10^21s^-1, much higher than any other fluid observed in nature. This opens a new window to study properties of QGP and a new direction in high energy heavy ion physics. This featured article is aimed to report the basic idea, current status and outlook.

nucl-th↗
arXiv2019

Dirac sea and chiral anomaly in the quantum kinetic theory

We revisit the chiral anomaly in the quantum kinetic theory in the Wigner function formalism under the background field approximation. Our results show that the chiral anomaly is actually from the Dirac sea or the vacuum contribution in the un-normal-ordered Wigner function. We also demonstrate that this contribution modifies the chiral kinetic equation for antiparticles.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2019

Charmed hadron production via equal-velocity quark combination in ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions

Recent data on the production of $D$ mesons and $Λ_c^+$ baryons in heavy ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and the Large Hadron Collider exhibit a number of striking characteristics such as enhanced yield ratios $D_s^+/D^0$, $Λ_c^+/D^0$ and their transverse momentum dependences. In this paper, we derive the momentum dependence of open charm mesons and singly charmed baryons produced in ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions via the equal-velocity quark combination. We present analytic expressions and numerical results of yield ratios and compare them with the experimental data available. We make predictions for other charmed hadrons.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2019

Relativistic Quantum Kinetic Theory for Massive Fermions and Spin Effects

We present the complete first order relativistic quantum kinetic theory with spin for massive fermions derived from the Wigner function formalism in a concise form that shows explicitly how the 32 Wigner equations reduce to 4 independent transport equations. We solve modified on-shell conditions to obtain the general solution and present the corresponding transport equations in three different forms that are suitable for different purposes. We demonstrate how different spin effects arise from the kinetic theory by calculating the chiral separation effect with mass correction, the chiral anomaly from the axial current and the quantum magnetic moment density induced by vorticity and magnetic field. We also show how to generate the global polarization effect due to spin vorticity coupling. The formalism presented may serve as a practical theoretical framework to study different spin effects in relativistic fermion systems encountered in different areas such as heavy ion, astro-particle and condensed matter physics as well.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2018

Disentangling covariant Wigner functions for chiral fermions

We develop a general formalism for the quantum kinetics of chiral fermions in a background electromagnetic field based on a semiclassical expansion of covariant Wigner functions in the Planck constant $\hbar$. We demonstrate to any order of $\hbar$ that only the time-component of the Wigner function is independent while other components are explicit derivative. We further demonstrate to any order of $\hbar$ that a system of quantum kinetic equations for multiple-components of Wigner functions can be reduced to one chiral kinetic equation involving only the single-component distribution function. These are remarkable properties of the quantum kinetics of chiral fermions and will significantly simplify the description and simulation of chiral effects in heavy ion collisions and Dirac/Weyl semimetals. We present the unintegrated chiral kinetic equations in four-momenta up to $O(\hbar ^2)$ and the integrated ones in three-momenta up to $O(\hbar)$. We find that some singular terms emerge in the integration over the time component of the four-momentum, which result in a new source term contributing to the chiral anomaly, in contrast to the well-known scenario of the Berry phase term. Finally we rewrite our results in any Lorentz frame with a reference four-velocity and show how the non-trivial transformation of the distribution function in different frames emerges in a natural way.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2017

Quark number scaling of hadronic $p_T$ spectra and constituent quark degree of freedom in $p$-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=5.02$ TeV

We show that the experimental data of $p_T$ spectra of identified hadrons released recently by ALICE collaboration for $p$-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=5.02$ TeV exhibit a distinct universal behavior --- the quark number scaling. We further show that the scaling is a direct consequence of quark (re-)combination mechanism of hadronization and can be regarded as a strong indication of the existence of the underlying source with constituent quark degree of freedom for the production of hadrons in $p$-Pb collisions at such high energies. We make also predictions for production of other hadrons.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2012

Chiral anomaly and local polarization effect from quantum kinetic approach

A power expansion scheme is set up to determine the Wigner function that satisfies the quantum kinetic equation for spin-1/2 charged fermions in a background electromagnetic field. Vector and axial-vector current induced by magnetic field and vorticity are obtained simultaneously from the Wigner function. The chiral magnetic and vortical effect and chiral anomaly are shown as natural consequences of the quantum kinetic equation. The axial-vector current induced by vorticity is argued to lead to a local polarization effect along the vorticity direction in heavy-ion collisions.

hep-ph↗