Münster 2011 – scientific programme

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HK: Fachverband Physik der Hadronen und Kerne

HK 49: Schwerionenkollisionen und QCD Phasen VI

HK 49.6: Talk

Thursday, March 24, 2011, 15:45–16:00, HS AP

The Chiral Magnetic Effect — •Harmen Warringa — Institut für Theoretische Physik, Goethe Universität, Max-von-Laue-Str. 1, Frankfurt am Main

In quantum chromodynamics (QCD) an imbalance in the number of right- and left-handed quarks will be induced by fluctuations of topological charge. This is a P- and CP-odd effect, and can potentially be relevant during heavy ion collisions. The question then is how one could investigate this imbalance in experiment. In this talk I will show that enormous magnetic fields are created in heavy ion collisions in the direction of angular momentum of the collision. I will explain that such imbalance naturally leads to generation of an electric current in the direction of the magnetic field. This is the chiral magnetic effect, which I will review in this talk. I will discuss quantitative calculations of the magnitude of this induced current. In heavy ion collisions, the chiral magnetic effect is expected to lead to separation of charge which in principle can be addressed experimentally by measuring specific charge correlations.