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.