A new method for the experimental study of topological effects in the quark-gluon plasma

A new method is presented for the quantitative measurement of charge separation about the reaction plane. A correlation function is obtained whose shape is concave when there is a net separation of positive and negative charges. Correlations not specifically associated with charge, from flow, jets and momentum conservation, do not influence the shape or magnitude of the correlation function. Detailed simulations are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the method for the quantitative measurement of charge separation. Such measurements are a pre-requisite to the investigation of topological charge effects in the QGP as derived from the "strong $\cal{CP}$ problem".Comment: Six pages 13 figures. Submitted for publicatio

Glauber-based evaluations of the odd moments of the initial eccentricity relative to the even order participant planes

Monte Carlo simulations are used to compute the centrality dependence of the odd moments of the initial eccentricity $\epsilon_{n+1}$, relative to the even order (n) participant planes $\Psi^*_n$ in Au+Au collisions. The results obtained for two models of the eccentricity -- the Glauber and the factorized Kharzeev-Levin-Nardi (fKLN) models -- indicate magnitudes which are essentially zero. They suggest that a possible correlation between the orientations of the the odd and even participant planes ($\Psi^*_{n+1}$ and $\Psi^*_n$ respectively), do not have a significant influence on the calculated eccentricities. An experimental verification test for correlations between the orientations of the the odd and even participant planes is also proposed.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure. Version accepted for publicatio

A New Correlator to Detect and Characterize the Chiral Magnetic Effect

A charge-sensitive in-event correlator is proposed and tested for its efficacy to detect and characterize charge separation associated with the Chiral Magnetic Effect (CME) in heavy ion collisions. Tests, performed with the aid of two reaction models, indicate discernible responses for background- and CME-driven charge separation, relative to the second- ($\Psi_{2}$) and third-order ($\Psi_{3}$) event planes, which could serve to identify the CME. The tests also indicate a degree of sensitivity which would enable robust characterization of the CME via Anomalous Viscous Fluid Dynamics (AVFD) model comparisons.Comment: 5 pages, 5 Figs.; Published versio

Chiral magnetic wave at finite baryon density and the electric quadrupole moment of quark-gluon plasma in heavy ion collisions

Chiral Magnetic Wave (CMW) is a gapless collective excitation of quark-gluon plasma in the presence of external magnetic field that stems from the interplay of Chiral Magnetic (CME) and Chiral Separation Effects (CSE); it is composed by the waves of the electric and chiral charge densities coupled by the axial anomaly. We consider CMW at finite baryon density and find that it induces the electric quadrupole moment of the quark-gluon plasma produced in heavy ion collisions: the "poles" of the produced fireball (pointing outside of the reaction plane) acquire additional positive electric charge, and the "equator" acquires additional negative charge. We point out that this electric quadrupole deformation lifts the degeneracy between the elliptic flows of positive and negative pions leading to $v_2(\pi^+) < v_2(\pi^-)$, and estimate the magnitude of the effect.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure