Rotational Brownian motion and heavy quark polarization in QCD medium

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Authors: Sourav Dey, Amaresh Jaiswal
Cited by: 4
References: 62

Abstract

We consider the rotational Brownian motion of heavy quark in QCD medium and provide analytical results for polarization of open heavy-flavor hadrons. We calculate expressions for vector and tensor polarization, corresponding to baryon spin polarization and vector meson spin alignment, respectively. Assuming that heavy quarks are initially fully spin polarized along the direction of magnetic field, we compare our results with recent experimental data from ALICE collaboration for D * + meson and provide predictions for spin polarization of open charm baryons. We propose that the transverse momentum dependence of heavy quark polarization may serve as a distinctive signature of the intense initial magnetic field generated in off-central relativistic heavy-ion collisions.

Fields of Study & Subjects

High-Energy Particle Collisions Research Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions

Publication details

Journal / source
Physics Letters B
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Volume
873
Pages
140202–140202
Publication date
22 January 2026
Language
EN