Evidence of Isospin-Symmetry Violation in High-Energy Collisions of Atomic Nuclei: Theoretical and Phenomenological Considerations
Abstract
Recently, the NA61/SHINE Collaboration at the CERN SPS reported evidence of isospin-symmetry violation in high-energy nuclear collisions. The effect was observed in the relative yields of charged and neutral kaons and cannot be explained by known sources of isospin-symmetry breaking. In this work, we extend the theoretical and phenomenological aspects of that study. We discuss the historical background and introduce the concepts of isospin transformations and symmetry. Importantly, we relate isospin symmetry to the QCD flavour symmetry, and we present both conceptual and analytical proofs demonstrating the equality of the mean multiplicities of charged and neutral kaons for an initial ensemble of colliding systems that is invariant under charge-symmetry transformation. Abstract Published by the Jagiellonian University 2026 authors
Fields of Study & Subjects
High-Energy Particle Collisions Research
Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies
Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Acta Physica Polonica B
- Publisher
- Jagiellonian University
- Volume
- 57
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 1–1
- Publication date
- 9 April 2026
- Language
- EN