Search for the chiral magnetic effect through beam energy dependence of charge separation using event shape selection

Fuente: arXiv
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Autor principal: The STAR Collaboration
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
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author The STAR Collaboration
author_facet The STAR Collaboration
contents High-energy, heavy-ion collisions can create local domains of chirality-imbalanced quarks, reflecting the topological features of quantum chromodynamics. The chiral magnetic effect (CME) predicts an electric charge separation of quarks in such topological domains along the magnetic field ($\vec{B}$) generated by the passing of two high-$Z$ nuclei. We use a correlation observable $Δγ^{112}$ between charged meson pairs to detect the CME-induced charge separation and a novel event shape selection (ESS) method to mitigate the background effects related to elliptic flow ($v_2$). The ESS method classifies events based on the emission pattern of final-state particles and determines $Δγ^{112}_{\rm ESS}$ from the zero-flow limit. We reconstruct the $\vec{B}$ field direction from the spectator nucleons, which minimizes backgrounds unrelated to the collective motion of the system. In this work, we report the measurements of $Δγ^{112}$ and a background indicator $Δγ^{132}$ in Au+Au collisions from the RHIC Beam Energy Scan phase II and at the top RHIC energy. After background suppression, $Δγ^{132}_{\rm ESS}$ aligns with zero, and $Δγ^{112}_{\rm ESS}$ is reduced to no more than 20\% of $Δγ^{112}$. We observe a finite residual charge separation with $2.6σ$, $3.1σ$, and $3.3σ$ significance in the 20\%--50\% centrality range of Au+Au collisions at 11.5, 14.6, and 19.6 GeV. The results at 17.3 and 27 GeV also show positive values but with a lower significance of $1.3σ$ and $1.1σ$, respectively. The corresponding $Δγ^{112}_{\rm ESS}$ values at 7.7, 9.2, and 200 GeV are consistent with zero within uncertainties.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_00278
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Search for the chiral magnetic effect through beam energy dependence of charge separation using event shape selection
The STAR Collaboration
Nuclear Experiment
High Energy Physics - Experiment
High-energy, heavy-ion collisions can create local domains of chirality-imbalanced quarks, reflecting the topological features of quantum chromodynamics. The chiral magnetic effect (CME) predicts an electric charge separation of quarks in such topological domains along the magnetic field ($\vec{B}$) generated by the passing of two high-$Z$ nuclei. We use a correlation observable $Δγ^{112}$ between charged meson pairs to detect the CME-induced charge separation and a novel event shape selection (ESS) method to mitigate the background effects related to elliptic flow ($v_2$). The ESS method classifies events based on the emission pattern of final-state particles and determines $Δγ^{112}_{\rm ESS}$ from the zero-flow limit. We reconstruct the $\vec{B}$ field direction from the spectator nucleons, which minimizes backgrounds unrelated to the collective motion of the system. In this work, we report the measurements of $Δγ^{112}$ and a background indicator $Δγ^{132}$ in Au+Au collisions from the RHIC Beam Energy Scan phase II and at the top RHIC energy. After background suppression, $Δγ^{132}_{\rm ESS}$ aligns with zero, and $Δγ^{112}_{\rm ESS}$ is reduced to no more than 20\% of $Δγ^{112}$. We observe a finite residual charge separation with $2.6σ$, $3.1σ$, and $3.3σ$ significance in the 20\%--50\% centrality range of Au+Au collisions at 11.5, 14.6, and 19.6 GeV. The results at 17.3 and 27 GeV also show positive values but with a lower significance of $1.3σ$ and $1.1σ$, respectively. The corresponding $Δγ^{112}_{\rm ESS}$ values at 7.7, 9.2, and 200 GeV are consistent with zero within uncertainties.
title Search for the chiral magnetic effect through beam energy dependence of charge separation using event shape selection
topic Nuclear Experiment
High Energy Physics - Experiment
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.00278