Azimuthal Charged-Particle Correlations and Possible Local Strong Parity Violation

• Main Authors: Redwine, Robert P. (Contributor), Jones, Christopher LaDon (Contributor), Leight, William Axel (Contributor), Seele, Joseph Patrick (Contributor), van Nieuwenhuizen, Gerrit Jan (Contributor), Walker, Matthew H. (Contributor), Sakuma, Tai (Contributor), Corliss, Ross Cameron (Contributor), Milner, Richard G. (Contributor), Kocoloski, Adam Philip (Contributor), Hoffman, A. M. (Contributor), Balewski, Jan T. (Contributor), Betancourt, Michael Joseph (Contributor), Surrow, Bernd (Contributor)
• Other Authors: Bates Linear Accelerator Center (Contributor), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics (Contributor), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Laboratory for Nuclear Science (Contributor)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Physical Society, 2010-04-12T16:39:21Z.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

Parity-odd domains, corresponding to nontrivial topological solutions of the QCD vacuum, might be created during relativistic heavy-ion collisions. These domains are predicted to lead to charge separation of quarks along the system's orbital momentum axis. We investigate a three-particle azimuthal correlator which is a P even observable, but directly sensitive to the charge separation effect. We report measurements of charged hadrons near center-of-mass rapidity with this observable in Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions at [sqrt s[subscript NN]]=200   GeV using the STAR detector. A signal consistent with several expectations from the theory is detected. We discuss possible contributions from other effects that are not related to parity violation.
RosAtom of Russia
Russian Ministry of Science and Technology
Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research of India
DST of the Government of India
DAE of the Government of India
Now of the Netherlands
FOM of the Netherlands
MSMT of the Czech Republic
GA of the Czech Republic
MoE of China
MoST of China
Chinese Academy of Sciences
NNSFC of China
Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation
FAPESP of Brazil
EPSRC of the United Kingdom
Institut National de Physique Nucléaire and de Physique des Particules
DFG Excellence Cluster EXC153 of Germany
Science and Technology Facilities Council, United Kingdom
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
National Science Foundation
United States Department of Energy