Search

We investigate the chiral magnetic effect (CME) in relativistic heavy-ion collisions through an improved two-plane method analysis of the $\Delta\gamma$ observable, probing $\mathcal{CP}$-symmetry breaking in strong interactions and topological properties of the QCD vacuum. Using a multiphase transport model with tunable CME strengths, we systematically compare Au+Au and isobar collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{\rm NN}}} = 200$ GeV. We observe a reduced difference in the CME signal-to-background ratio between the spectator and participant planes for Au+Au collisions compared to isobar collisions. A comprehensive chi-square analysis across all three collision systems reveals stronger CME signatures in Au+Au collisions relative to isobar collisions, particularly when measured with respect to the spectator plane. Our findings demonstrate an enhanced experimental reliability of the two-plane method for the CME detection in Au+Au collisions., Comment: 15 pages, 17 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2301.12076

We investigate the signal of the chiral magnetic effect (CME) in Au+Au collisions and isobar collisions of $_{44}^{96}\text{Ru}+\rm{} _{44}^{96}Ru$ and $_{40}^{96}\text{Zr}+\rm{}_{40}^{96}Zr$ in the newly developed chiral anomaly transport (CAT) module based on the state-of-the-art model a multiphase transport (AMPT). Our numerical simulation results for the ratio charge correlation $\Delta\gamma$ in Ru+Ru and Zr+Zr collisions are close to the latest experimental data. The simulation shows that the CME signal is larger in Ru+Ru collisions than that in Zr+Zr collisions, while the background is smaller, and the upper limit of the CME signal is $15\%$ in the isobar collisions., Comment: 13 pages, 15 figures

We present an analytically solvable model based on the blast-wave picture of heavy-ion collisions with flow-momentum correspondence. It can describe the key features of spin polarizations in heavy-ion collisions. With the analytical solution, we can clearly show that the spin polarization with respect to the reaction plane is governed by the directed flow, while the spin polarization along the beam direction is governed by the ellipticity in flow and in transverse emission area. There is a symmetry between the contribution from the vorticity and from the shear stress tensor due to the flow-momentum correspondence. The solution can be improved systematically by perturbation method., Comment: RevTex 4, 12 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables

In this work, we examine the impact of phase transitions on quark spin fluctuation and correlation. We propose a novel observable for quark-antiquark correlation that relates to vector meson spin alignment and $\Lambda-\bar\Lambda$ correlation. Using the Nambu-Jona-Lanisio model, we qualitatively study the properties of quark-antiquark spin correlation. Our findings reveal a peak structure near the critical end point (CED) of chiral phase transition, which may serve as an experimental signature of the CEP and help explain the non-monotonic behavior of $\phi$ meson alignment at low collision energies., Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures

The impact of nuclear structure has garnered considerable attention in the high-energy nuclear physics community in recent years. This work focuses on studying the potential nuclear cluster structure in $^{16}\text{O}$ nuclei using anisotropic flow observables in $\rm O+O$ collisions at 200 GeV. Employing an improved AMPT model with various cluster structure configurations, we find that an extended effective parton formation time is necessary to align with the recent STAR experimental data. In addition, we reveal that the presented flow observables serve as sensitive probes for differentiating configurations of $\alpha$-clustering of $^{16}\text{O}$ nuclei. The systematic AMPT calculations presented in this paper, along with comprehensive comparisons to forthcoming experimental measurements at RHIC and the LHC, pave the way for a novel approach to investigate the $\alpha$-clustering structure of $^{16}\text{O}$ nuclei using $\rm O+O$ collisions at the ultra-relativistic energies., Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures

Multiparticle cumulants method can be used to reveal long-range collectivity in small and large colliding systems. The four-particle symmetric cumulant $sc_{2,4} \left \{ 4 \right \}$, three-particle asymmetric cumulant $ac_{2} \left \{ 3 \right \}$, and the normalized cumulants $nsc_{2,4} \left \{ 4 \right \}$ and $nac_{2} \left \{ 3 \right \}$ from the transverse momentum conservation and flow are calculated. The interplay between the two effects is also investigated. Our results are in a good agreement with the recent ATLAS measurements of multiparticle azimuthal correlations with the subevent cumulant method, which provides insight into the origin of collective flow in small systems., Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures, final published version

Fluctuations of conserved charges, such as the net-baryon number fluctuations, are influenced by different dynamical evolution processes. In this paper, we investigate the influence of hadronic rescatterings on different orders of cumulants of the net-baryon number distribution. At the start of hadronic rescatterings, we introduce net-baryon number distributions reconstructed based on net-baryon cumulants of different orders obtained from computation in functional renormalization group (FRG), where the distributions were constructed using the maximum entropy method. This way we introduce the critical fluctuations of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) into the AMPT model. Firstly, we find that hadronic rescatterings have distinct effects on cumulant ratios of different orders for the net-baryon number. Secondly, we observe that the effect of hadronic rescatterings is more significant for critical fluctuations than dynamical fluctuations, because the two-, three- and four-particle correlation functions due to critical fluctuations are weakened more significantly by hadronic rescatterings., Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures

Built upon the state-of-the-art model a multiphase transport (AMPT), we develop a new module of chiral anomaly transport (CAT), which can trace the evolution of the initial topological charge of gauge field created through sphaleron transition at finite temperature and external magnetic field in heavy ion collisions. The eventual experimental signals of chiral magnetic effect(CME) can be measured. The CAT explicitly shows the generation and evolution of the charge separation, and the signals of CME through the CAT are quantitatively in agreement with the experimental measurements in Au+Au collision at $\sqrt{s}=200 {\rm GeV}$, and the centrality dependence of the CME fraction follows that of the fireball temperature., Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures

Collective flow has been found to be similar between small colliding systems ($p$ $+$ $p$ and $p$ $+$ A collisions) and large colliding systems (peripheral A $+$ A collisions) at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. In order to study the differences of collective flow between small and large colliding systems, we employ a point cloud network to identify $p$ $+$ Pb collisions and peripheral Pb $+$ Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} =$ 5.02 TeV generated from a multiphase transport model (AMPT). After removing the discrepancies in the pseudorapidity distribution and the $p_{\rm T}$ spectra, we capture the discrepancy in collective flow. Although the verification accuracy of our PCN is limited due to similar event-by-event distributions of elliptic and triangular flow, we demonstrate that collective flow between $p$ $+$ Pb collisions and peripheral Pb $+$ Pb collisions becomes more distinct with increasing final hadron multiplicity and parton scattering cross section. This study not only highlights the potential of PCN techniques in advancing the understanding of collective flow in varying colliding systems, but more importantly lays the groundwork for the future PCN-related research., Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures, final published version

The plain jet mass distributions of reconstructed jets are investigated in p+p and 0-10$\%$ most central Pb+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76~{\rm TeV}$ using a dynamical multiphase transport model with a string melting mechanism. It is observed that the mean charged jet mass increases with increasing jet transverse momentum and jet radius in central Pb+Pb collisions. It is demonstrated that the plain jet mass of reconstructed partonic jet is shifted to a higher value after the evolution of partonic stage due to jet quenching in central Pb+Pb collisions. However, the jet mass shift effect is strongly weakened by non-perturbative effects from hadronization and hadron rescatterings. This makes it difficult to observe significant hot medium modification effects on the plain jet mass distribution in the final state of relativistic heavy-ion collisions., Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in European Physical Journal A

The search for the chiral magnetic effect (CME) in relativistic heavy-ion collisions helps us understand the $\mathcal{CP}$ symmetry breaking in strong interactions and the topological nature of the QCD vacuum. Since the background and signal of the CME have different correlations with the spectator and participant planes, a two-plane method has been proposed to extract the fraction of the CME signal inside the CME observable of $\Delta\gamma$ from the experimental measurements relative to the two planes. Using a multiphase transport model with different strengths of the CME, we reexamine the two-plane method in isobar collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{\rm NN}}} = 200$ GeV. The ratios of the CME signals and the elliptic flow backgrounds relative to the two different planes are found to be different, which is inconsistent with the assumptions made in the current experimental measurements. This difference arises from the decorrelation effect of the chiral magnetic effect relative to the spectator and participant planes caused by final state interactions. Our finding suggests that the current experimental measurements may overestimate the fraction of the CME signal in the CME observable in the final state of relativistic heavy-ion collisions., Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures, final published version

When searching for anomalous chiral effects in heavy-ion collisions, one of the most crucial points is the relationship between the signal and the background. In this letter, we present a simulation in a modified blast wave model at LHC energy, which can simultaneously characterize the majority of measurable quantities, in particular, the chiral magnetic effect (CME) and the chiral magnetic wave (CMW) observables. Such a universal description, for the first time, naturally and quantitatively unifies the CME and the CMW studies and brings to light the connection with the local charge conservation (LCC) background. Moreover, a simple phenomenological approach is performed to introduce the signals, aiming at quantifying the maximum allowable strength of the signals within experimental precision. Such a constraint provides a novel perspective to understand the experimental data and sheds new light on the study of anomalous chiral effects as well as charge dependent correlations., Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures

We calculate the cumulants and correlation functions of net-kaon multiplicity distributions in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 7.7$ GeV using a multiphase transport model (AMPT) with both a new coalescence mechanism and all charge conservation laws. The AMPT model can qualitatively describe the centrality dependences of the net-kaon cumulants and cumulant ratios measured by the STAR experiment. By focusing on the stage evolution of the cumulants, cumulant ratios, and correlation functions, we reveal several key effects on the fluctuations and correlations of strangeness during the dynamical evolution of relativistic heavy-ion collisions, including strangeness production and diffusion, hadronization, hadronic rescatterings, and weak decays. Without considering the quantum chromodynamics critical fluctuations in the dynamic model, we demonstrate that the net-kaon fluctuations can largely represent the net-strangeness fluctuations. Our results provide a baseline for understanding the net-kaon and net-strangeness fluctuations, which help to search for the possible critical behaviors at the critical end point in relativistic heavy-ion collisions., Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures; final published version

The transverse momentum $j_{\rm T}$-dependent jet fragmentation functions have been investigated in proton+proton (p $+$ p) and proton+lead (p $+$ Pb) collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.02~{\rm TeV}$ with a multiphase transport model containing both a simple quark coalescence mechanism and a new hybrid hadronization mechanism with coalescence and fragmentation processes. Hadronized by the new hadronization mechanism, the AMPT model achieves a quantitative description of the $j_{\rm T}$-dependent jet fragmentation functions measured by ALICE. Besides, no obvious jet-medium interaction and cold nuclear matter effects on the $j_{\rm T}$-dependent jet fragmentation functions in p $+$ Pb collisions were observed. We found the $j_{\rm T}$-dependent jet fragmentation functions are dominated by the quark coalescence contribution for the new hadronization mechanism, which can be decomposed into narrow and wide parts. The root mean square value of the wide part depends on the jet radius $R$ and jet transverse momentum $p_{\rm{T, jet}}$, which is sensitive to different hadronization mechanisms and their components. Therefore, the $j_{\rm T}$-dependent jet fragmentation functions are proposed as a sensitive probe to study the non-perturbative hadronization effect of jets in small colliding systems., Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures, final published version

We propose a test-particle method to probe the transport dynamics of the establishment and development of collective flow in large and small systems of heavy-ion collisions. We place test particles as passengers into the partonic medium created by Au$+$Au midcentral collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 200 GeV and $p$ $+$ Pb central collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV, using a multiphase transport model. With the help of test particles in two extreme test cases, we demonstrate that parton collisions play an important role in establishing and developing collectivity in large and small colliding systems. The collectivity established by final state parton collisions is much stronger in large colliding systems compared to small colliding systems. The collectivity from the initial state can persist or survive more easily in small colliding systems than in large colliding systems due to fewer parton collisions. Our study provides a new method to understand the origin of collectivity in large and small colliding systems at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and the CERN Large Hadron Collider., Comment: 11 pages, 17 figures, final published version

We calculate the longitudinal flow decorrelation coefficients, i.e., $r_n(\eta,\eta_r)$ for $n=2,3$, in the presence of hydro-like flow and the global momentum conservation (GMC) constraint. The longitudinal flow decorrelation is weakened due to the GMC constraint. The GMC effect is sensitive to the total number of particles involved in GMC, the average longitudinal momentum, the transverse momentum, and the reference pseudorapidity. Our results of the $r_2(\eta,\eta_{rA})/r_2(\eta,\eta_{rB})$ ratio between two reference pseudorapidity bins are consistent with the experimental measurements. We predict that the modification effect of GMC on longitudinal flow decorrelation is more noticeable at BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider energies than at CERN Large Hadron Collider energies. Our finding provides a new perspective for understanding the longitudinal flow decorrelation in relativistic heavy-ion collisions., Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, final published version

Higher-order cumulants of the distributions of conserved charges, such as net-baryon number, are sensitive to the quantum chromodynamics(QCD) phase transition and the QCD critical point. We calculate the cumulants and correlation functions of proton, antiproton, and net-proton multiplicity distributions in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 7.7$ GeV using a multiphase transport model(AMPT). The AMPT model can basically describe the trends of cumulants, cumulant ratios, (normalized) correlation functions of the proton and net-proton measured by the STAR experiment. The multiproton (baryon) correlations in the AMPT model are consistent with the expectation from baryon number conservation. We demonstrate that multiproton (baryon) correlations suffer the dynamical evolution of heavy-ion collisions. Our results provide a baseline for searching for the possible critical behaviors at the critical end point in relativistic heavy-ion collisions., Comment: 13 pages, 15 figures

We calculate the $n$th order of $2k$-particle azimuthal cumulants $c_n\{2k\}$ based on transverse momentum conservation (TMC) and collective flow $v_n$(n=2,3). We demonstrate that the TMC effect only leads to a nonzero $c_n\{2k\}$ with the sign of $(-1)^{nk}$ and the magnitude inversely proportional to $(N-2k)^{nk}$. The interplay between TMC and collective flow can change the signs of $c_2\{4\}$, $c_3\{2\}$ and $c_3\{4\}$ at some values of multiplicity $N$, which could provide a good probe to study the onset of collectivity and search for the substructure of proton in small colliding systems., Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, final published version

The presence of $\alpha$-clustered structure in the light nuclei produces different exotic shapes in nuclear structure studies at low energies. Recent phenomenological studies suggest that collision of heavy nuclei with $\alpha$-clustered carbon ($^{12}$C) at relativistic energies can lead to large initial state anisotropies. This is expected to impact the final momentum anisotropies of the produced particles significantly. The emission of electromagnetic radiations is considered to be more sensitive to the initial state compared to hadronic observables and thus photon observables are expected to be affected by the initial clustered structure profoundly. In this work we estimate the production and anisotropic flow of photons from most-central collisions of triangular $\alpha$-clustered carbon and gold at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=200$ GeV using an event-by-event hydrodynamic framework and compare the results with those obtained from unclustered carbon and gold collisions. We show that the thermal photon $v_3$ for most central collisions is significantly large for the clustered case compared to the case with unclustered carbon, whereas the elliptic flow parameter does not show much difference for the two cases. In addition, the ratio of anisotropic flow coefficients is found to be a potential observable to constrain the initial state produced in relativistic heavy-ion collisions and also to know more about the $\alpha$-clustered structure in carbon nucleus., Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, final published version

Isobar collisions which were thought to have the same background and different magnetic fields provide an opportunity to verify the chiral magnetic effect (CME) in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. However, the first result from the RHIC-STAR isobar experiment did not observe the CME signal, but discovered that the backgrounds are different between $_{44}^{96}\textrm{Ru}+_{44}^{96}\textrm{Ru}$ and $_{40}^{96}\textrm{Zr}+_{40}^{96}\textrm{Zr}$ collisions. We test eighteen cases of Woods-Saxon parameter settings resulting from different nuclear deformation or nuclear structure effects using a mutiphase transport model. We find out that seven cases can reasonably reproduce three reference ratios measured by the STAR experiment. Considering both the halo-type neutron skin structure and CME-like charge separation, we demonstrate that it is difficult for the CME observables ($\Delta\delta$, $\Delta\delta$ ratio, $\Delta\gamma$ and $\Delta\gamma$ ratio) to distinguish the presence or absence of the CME, if the CME strength is weak in isobar collisions. It is because the final state interactions significantly weaken the initial CME signal, resulting in non-linear sensitivities of the CME observables to the CME strength. Therefore, more sensitive observables are required to search for the possible small CME signal in isobar collisions., Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, final published version

Impacts of nuclear structure on multiplicity ($N_{ch}$) and anisotropic flows ($v_{2}$ and $v_{3}$) in the isobaric collisions of $^{96}_{44}$Ru + $^{96}_{44}$Ru and $^{96}_{40}$Zr + $^{96}_{40}$Zr at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 7.7, 27, 62.4 and 200 GeV are investigated by using the string melting version of A MultiPhase Transport (AMPT) model. In comparison with the experimental data released recently by the STAR collaboration, it is found that the impact of quadrupole deformation $\beta_{2}$ on the $v_{2}$ difference is mainly manifested in the most central collisions, while the octupole deformation $\beta_{3}$ is in the near-central collisions, and the neutron skin effect dominates in the mid-central collisions. Viewing from the energy dependence, these effects are magnified at lower energies., Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, 1 table

Flow-like signals including the ridge structure observed in small collision systems that are similar to those in large collision systems have led to questions about the onset of collectivity in nuclear collisions. In this study, we use the string melting version of a multi-phase transport (AMPT) model with or without the sub-nucleon geometry for the proton to study multiparticle cumulants in $p+p$ collisions at 13 TeV. Both versions of the model produce negative $c_{2}\{4 \}$ values at high multiplicities. In addition, the dependence of $c_{2}\{4 \}$ on the parton cross section is non-monotonous, where only a range of parton cross section values leads to negative $c_{2} \{4 \}$. Furthermore, the AMPT model with sub-nucleon geometry better describes the multiplicity dependence of $c_{2} \{4 \}$, demonstrating the importance of incorporating the sub-nucleon geometry in studies of small collision systems., Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures (added two figures)

The moments and moment products of conserved charges are believed to be sensitive to critical fluctuations, which have been adopted in determining the QCD critical point. Using a dynamical multiphase transport model, we reproduce the centrality and energy dependences of moments and moment products of net-charge multiplicity distributions in Au+Au collisions measured by the Beam Energy Scan program at the RHIC. No non-monotonic energy dependence is observed. We infer that the moment products develop during the dynamical evolution of heavy-ion collisions. The observed difference based on the expectation of the Poisson baseline indicates a positive two-particle correlation between positively and negatively charged particles, which can arise from different dynamical processes at different stages. Therefore, to adopt moments and moment products of net-charge multiplicity distributions in determining the QCD critical point of relativistic heavy-ion collisions, it is essential to take the dynamical evolution., Comment: 10 pages, 14 figures

The charge asymmetry (Ach) dependence of anisotropic flow serves as an important tool to search for the chiral magnetic wave (CMW) in heavy-ion collisions. However, the background effect, such as the local charge conservation (LCC) entwined with collective flow, has not yet been unambiguously eliminated in the measurement. With the help of two models, the AMPT with initial quadrupole moment and the blast wave (BW) incorporating LCC, we discuss the features of the LCC-induced and the CMW-induced correlations between Ach and the flow. More importantly, we first propose to use the Event Shape Engineering (ESE) technique to distinguish the background and the signal for the CMW study. This method would be highly desirable in the experimental search for the CMW and provides more insights for understanding the charge-dependent collective motion of the quark-gluon plasma., Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures

Using the string melting version of a multiphase transport model, we focus on the evolution of thermodynamic properties of the central cell of parton matter produced in Au$+$Au collisions ranging from 200 GeV down to 2.7 GeV. The temperature and chemical potentials have been calculated based on both Boltzmann and quantum statistics in order to locate their evolution trajectories in the QCD phase diagram. We demonstrate that the trajectories can depend on many physical factors, especially the finite nuclear thickness at lower energies. However, from the evolution of pressure anisotropy, only partial thermalization can be achieved when the partonic systems reach the predicted QCD phase boundary. It provides some helpful insights to studying the QCD phase structure through relativistic heavy-ion collisions., Comment: 17 pages, 15 figures, final published version

We explore parton collisional effects on the conversion of geometry eccentricities into azimuthal anisotropies in Pb+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV using a multi-phase transport model. The initial eccentricity $\varepsilon_{n}$ (n = 2,3) and flow harmonics $v_{n}$ (n = 2,3) are investigated as a function of the number of parton collisions ($N_{coll}$) during the source evolution of partonic phase. It is found that partonic collisions leads to generate elliptic flow $v_{2}$ and triangular flow $v_{3}$ in Pb+Pb collisions. On the other hand, partonic collisions also result in an evolution of the eccentricity of geometry. The collisional effect on the flow conversion efficiency is therefore studied. We find that the partons with larger $N_{coll}$ show a lower flow conversion efficiency, which reflect differential behaviors with respect to $N_{coll}$. It provides an additional insight into the dynamics of the space-momentum transformation during the QGP evolution from a transport model point of view., Comment: 11 pages, 12 figues

Based on the Kharzeev-McLerran-Warringa (KMW) model that estimates strong electromagnetic (EM) fields generated in relativistic heavy-ion collisions, we generalize the formulas of EM fields in the vacuum by incorporating the longitudinal position dependence, the generalized charge distributions and retardation correction. We further generalize the formulas of EM fields in the pure quark-gluon plasma (QGP) medium by incorporating a constant Ohm electric conductivity and also during the realistic early-time stages QGP evolution by using a time-dependent electric conductivity. Using the extended KMW model, we observe a slower time evolution and a more reasonable impact parameter $b$ dependence of the magnetic field strength than those from the original KMW model in the vacuum. The inclusion of medium effects by using the lattice data helps to further prolong the time evolution of magnetic field, such that the magnetic field strength during the realistic QGP evolution at thermal freeze-out time can meet the $1\sigma$ bound constrained from experimentally measured difference in global polarizations of $\Lambda$ and $\bar{\Lambda}$ hyperons in Au+Au collisions at top RHIC energy. These generalized formulations in the extended KMW model will be potentially useful for many EM fields relevant studies in heavy-ion collisions, especially at lower colliding energies and for various species of colliding nuclei., Comment: 24 pages, 7 figures; final published version

Based on Monte Carlo (MC) simulations of the interaction of energetic noble gas ions with carbon nanostructures, we have derived the ion-deposited energy formulas and their applications for the above interaction. We also have studied the nuclear point mass effects i.e. the well-known mass ratio effects, and the nuclear point charge effects on the ion-deposited energy then the damage regularities. In particular, we, for first time, find a straight line of the penetrating point threshold energies for energetic noble gas ions. Near this straight line, the nuclear point charge effects dominate the ion-deposited energy then the damage regularities., Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures

Different orientations of $\alpha$-clustered carbon nuclei colliding with heavy ions can result in a large variation in the value of anisotropic flow. Thus, photon flow observables from clustered ${\rm^{12}C}$ and ${\rm^{197}Au}$ collisions could be a potential probe to study the `direct photon puzzle'. We calculate the transverse momentum spectra and anisotropic flow coefficients ($v_n$) of thermal photons from collisions of triangular $\alpha$-clustered carbon and gold at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=200$ GeV at RHIC using a hydrodynamic model framework and compare the results with those obtained from unclustered carbon and gold collisions. The slope of the thermal photon spectra is found to vary moderately for different orientations of collisions. However, we find that the elliptic ($v_2$) and triangular flow ($v_3$) coefficients of direct photons for specific configurations are significantly larger and predominantly formed by the QGP radiation. A strong anti-correlation between initial spatial ellipticity and triangularity is observed in an event-by-event framework of $\alpha$-clustered ${\rm C+Au}$ collisions. These special features provide us an opportunity to detect the exotic nature of cluster structure inside carbon nucleus using the photon probe in the future experiments., Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures; final published version

We give a brief overview of recent theoretical and experimental results on the chiral magnetic effect and spin polarization effect in heavy-ion collisions. We present updated experimental results for the chiral magnetic effect and related phenomena. The time evolution of the magnetic fields in different models is discussed. The newly developed quantum kinetic theory for massive fermions is reviewed. We present theoretical and experimental results for the polarization of $\Lambda$ hyperons and the $\rho_{00}$ value of vector mesons., Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures. A review article for Nucl. Sci. Tech; more references are added

The extended $R^{(2)}_{\Psi_{m}}(\Delta S_{2})$ correlator is presented and examined for its efficacy to detect and characterize the quadrupole charge separation ($\Delta S_{2}$) associated with the purported Chiral Magnetic Wave (CMW) produced in heavy-ion collisions. Sensitivity tests involving varying degrees of proxy CMW signals injected into events simulated with the Multi-Phase Transport Model (AMPT), show that the $R^{(2)}_{\Psi_{m}}(\Delta S_{2})$ correlator provides discernible responses for the background- and CMW-driven charge separation. This distinction could aid identification of the CMW via measurements of the $R^{(2)}_{\Psi_{2}}(\Delta S_{2})$ and $R^{(2)}_{\Psi_{3}}(\Delta S_{2})$ correlators, relative to the second- ($\Psi_2$) and third-order ($\Psi_3$) event planes. The tests also indicate a level of sensitivity that would allow for robust experimental characterization of the CMW signal., Comment: 7 pages 5 figures - submitted for publication

A Multi-Phase Transport (AMPT) model is used to study the detection sensitivity of two of the primary correlators -- $\Delta\gamma$ and $R_{\Psi_{2}}$ -- employed to characterize charge separation induced by the Chiral Magnetic Effect (CME). The study, performed relative to several event planes for different input "CME signals", indicates a detection threshold for the fraction $f_{\rm CME}=\Delta\gamma_{\rm CME}/\Delta\gamma$, which renders the $\Delta\gamma$-correlator insensitive to values of the Fourier dipole coefficient $a_1 \lesssim 2.5\%$, that is larger than the purported signal(signal difference) for ion-ion(isobaric) collisions. By contrast, the $R_{\Psi_{2}}$ correlator indicates concave-shaped distributions with inverse widths ($\mathrm{\sigma^{-1}_{R_{\Psi_2}}}$) that are linearly proportional to $a_1$, and independent of the character of the event plane used for their extraction. The sensitivity of the $R_{\Psi_{2}}$ correlator to minimal CME-driven charge separation in the presence of realistic backgrounds, could aid better characterization of the CME in heavy-ion collisions., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figs., submitted for publication

Cascade solutions of the Boltzmann equation suffer from causality violation at large densities and/or scattering cross sections. Although the particle subdivision technique can reduce the causality violation, it alters event-by-event correlations and fluctuations and is also computationally expensive. Here we evaluate and then improve the accuracy of the ZPC parton cascade for elastic scatterings inside a box without using parton subdivision. We first test different collision schemes for the collision times and ordering time and find that the default collision scheme does not accurately describe the equilibrium momentum distribution at large opacities. We then find a specific collision scheme that can describe very accurately the equilibrium momentum distribution as well as the time evolution towards equilibrium, even at large opacities. We also calculate the shear viscosity and the $\eta/s$ ratio of the parton systems and confirm that the new collision scheme is more accurate. In addition, we use a novel parton subdivision method to obtain the "exact" evolution of the system. This subdivision method is valid for such box calculations and is so much more efficient than the standard subdivision method that we use a subdivision factor of $10^6$ in this study., Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, 2 tables; added calculations of shear viscosity and eta/s ratio of the parton systems under study

Because the traditional observable of charge-dependent azimuthal correlator $\gamma$ contains both contributions from the chiral magnetic effect (CME) and its background, a new observable of $R_{\Psi_{m}}$ has been recently proposed which is expected to be able to distinguish the CME from the background. In this study, we apply two methods to calculate $R_{\Psi_{m}}$ using a multiphase transport model without or with introducing a percentage of CME-induced charge separation. We demonstrate that the shape of final $R_{\Psi_{2}}$ distribution is flat for the case without the CME, but concave for that with an amount of the CME, because the initial CME signal survives from strong final state interactions. By comparing the responses of $R_{\Psi_{2}}$ and $\gamma$ to the strength of the initial CME, we observe that two observables show different nonlinear sensitivities to the CME. We find that the shape of $R_{\Psi_{2}}$ has an advantage in measuring a small amount of the CME, although it requires large event statistics., Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, add Figure 7 and more details in subsection III B

Within a multi-phase transport model with string melting scenario, jet transport parameter $\hat{q}$ is calculated in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN} } $= 200 GeV and Pb+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN} } $= 2.76 TeV. The $\hat{q}$ increases with the increasing of jet energy for both partonic phase and hadronic phase. The energy and path length dependences of $\hat{q}$ in full heavy-ion evolution are consistent with the expectations of jet quenching. The correlation between jet transport parameter $\hat{q}$ and dijet transverse momentum asymmetry $A_{J}$ is mainly investigated, which discloses that a larger $\hat{q}$ corresponds to a larger $A_{J}$. It supports a consistent jet energy loss picture from the two viewpoints of single jet and dijet. It is proposed to measure dijet asymmetry distributions with different jet transport parameter ranges as a new potential method to study jet quenching physics in high energy heavy-ion collisions., Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures

We present the spatial distributions of electromagnetic fields ($\bf E$ and $\bf B$) and electromagnetic anomaly $ \bf E \cdot B$ in Au+Au collisions at the RHIC energy $\sqrt{s}$=200 GeV based on a multi-phase transport model. A dipolar distribution of $\bf E \cdot B$ is observed in non-central collisions. We find that the coupling of the $\bf E \cdot B$ dipole and magnetic field $\bf B$ can induce an electric quadrupole moment which can further lead to the difference in elliptic flows between positive charged particles and negative charged particles through final interactions. The centrality dependence of the density of $\bf E \cdot B$ is similar to the trend of the slope parameter $r$ measured from the difference in elliptic flows between positive pions and negative pions by the STAR collaboration. Therefore, the novel mechanism for electric quadrupole moment generation can offer a new interpretation of the observed charge-dependent elliptic flow of pions, but without the formation of chiral magnetic wave., Comment: 10 pages, 12 figures, final published version

We investigate the properties of electromagnetic fields in isobaric $_{44}^{96}\textrm{Ru}+\,_{44}^{96}\textrm{Ru}$ and $_{40}^{96}\textrm{Zr}+\,_{40}^{96}\textrm{Zr}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 200 GeV by using a multiphase transport model, with special emphasis on the correlation between magnetic field direction and participant plane angle $\Psi_{2}$ (or spectator plane angle $\Psi_{2}^{\rm SP}$), i.e. $\langle{\rm cos}\ 2(\Psi_B - \Psi_{2})\rangle$ [or $\langle{\rm cos}\ 2(\Psi_B - \Psi_{2}^{\rm SP})\rangle$]. We confirm that the magnetic fields of $_{44}^{96}\textrm{Ru}+\,_{44}^{96}\textrm{Ru}$ collisions are stronger than those of $_{40}^{96}\textrm{Zr}+\,_{40}^{96}\textrm{Zr}$ collisions due to their larger proton fraction. We find that the deformation of nuclei has a non-negligible effect on $\langle{\rm cos}\ 2(\Psi_B - \Psi_{2})\rangle$ especially in peripheral events. Because the magnetic-field direction is more strongly correlated with $\Psi_{2}^{\rm SP}$ than with $\Psi_{2}$, the relative difference of the chiral magnetic effect observable with respect to $\Psi_{2}^{\rm SP}$ is expected to be able to reflect much cleaner information about the chiral magnetic effect with less influences of deformation., Comment: 12 pages, 20 figures; final published version (selected as Editors' Suggestion)

The isobaric collisions of $^{96}_{44}$Ru + $^{96}_{44}$Ru and $^{96}_{40}$Zr + $^{96}_{40}$Zr have recently been proposed to discern the charge separation signal of the chiral magnetic effect (CME). In this article, we employ the string melting version of a multiphase transport model to predict various charged-particle observables, including $dN/d\eta$, $p_T$ spectra, elliptic flow ($v_2$), and particularly possible CME signals in Ru + Ru and Zr + Zr collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{\rm NN}}}$ = 200 GeV. Two sets of the nuclear structure parametrization have been explored, and the difference between the two isobaric collisions appears to be small, in terms of $dN/d\eta$, $p_T$ spectra, and $v_2$ for charged particles. We mimic the CME by introducing an initial charge separation that is proportional to the magnetic field produced in the collision, and study how the final-state interactions affect the CME observables. The relative difference in the CME signal between the two isobaric collisions is found to be robust, insensitive to the final-state interactions., Comment: 8 pages, 10 figures; final published version

A new subevent cumulant method was recently developed, which can significantly reduce the non-flow contributions in long-range correlations for small systems compared to the standard cumulant method. In this work, we study multi-particle cumulants in $p$+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}} = 5.02$ TeV with a multiphase transport model (AMPT), including two- and four-particle cumulants ($c_{2}\{2\}$ and $c_{2}\{4\}$) and symmetric cumulants [SC(2, 3) and SC(2, 4)]. Our numerical results show that $v_{2}\{2\}$ is consistent with the experimental data, while the magnitude of $c_{2}\{4\}$ is smaller than the experimental data, which may indicate either the collectivity is underestimated or some dynamical fluctuations are absent in the AMPT model. For the symmetric cumulants, we find that the results from the standard cumulant method are consistent with the experimental data, but those from the subevent cumulant method show different behaviors. The results indicate that the measurements from the standard cumulant method are contaminated by non-flow effects, especially when the number of produced particles is small. The subevent cumulant method is a better tool to explore the $real$ collectivity in small systems., Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures; final published version

The azimuthal cumulants, $c_2\{2\}$ and $c_2\{4\}$, originating from the global conservation of transverse momentum in the presence of hydro-like elliptic flow are calculated. We observe the sign change of $c_2\{4\}$ for small number of produced particles. This is in a qualitative agreement with the recent ATLAS measurement of multi-particle azimuthal correlations with the subevent cumulant method., Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures; PLB version, less equations, experimental points added

Because the properties of the QCD phase transition and the chiral magnetic effect (CME) depend on the number of quark flavors ($N_{f}$) and quark mass, relativistic heavy-ion collisions provide a natural environment to investigate the flavor features if quark deconfinement occurs. We introduce an initial two-flavor or three-flavor dipole charge separation into a multiphase transport (AMPT) model to investigate the flavor dependence of the CME. By taking advantage of the recent ALICE data of charge azimuthal correlations with identified hadrons, we attempt to disentangle two-flavor and three-flavor CME scenarios in Pb+Pb collisions at 2.76 TeV. We find that the experimental data show a certain potential to distinguish the two scenarios, therefore we further suggest to collect more data to clarify the possible flavor dependence in future experiments., Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures; final published version

We calculate the $k$-particle ($k=2,4,6,8$) azimuthal cumulants resulting from the conservation of transverse momentum. We find that $c_2\{k\}>0$ and depending on the transverse momenta, $c_2\{k\}$ can reach substantial values even for a relatively large number of particles. The impact of our results on the understanding of the onset of collectivity in small systems is emphasized., Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure; PRC version

We calculate the electromagnetic fields generated in small systems by using a multiphase transport (AMPT) model. Compared to $A+A$ collisions, we find that the absolute electric and magnetic fields are not small in $p$+Au and $d$+Au collisions at energies available at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and in $p$+Pb collisions at energies available at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. We study the centrality dependencies and the spatial distributions of electromagnetic fields. We further investigate the azimuthal fluctuations of the magnetic field and its correlation with the fluctuating geometry using event-by-event simulations. We find that the azimuthal correlation $\left\langle \cos2(\Psi_B - \Psi_{2}) \right\rangle$ between the magnetic field direction and the second harmonic participant plane is almost zero in small systems with high multiplicities, but not in those with low multiplicities. This indicates that the charge azimuthal correlation, $\left\langle \cos(\phi_{\alpha}+\phi_{\beta} - 2\Psi_{RP}) \right\rangle$, is not a valid probe to study the chiral magnetic effect (CME) in small systems with high multiplicities. However, we suggest searching for possible CME effects in small systems with low multiplicities., Comment: 7 pages, 10 figures; final published version

Three questions should be interesting, for better understanding of the basic physics of damage creation and stopping ions of different types, in the damaged tube: 1) Between the mass and charge effects, i.e. potential- independent and potential- dependent effects on the damaged tube, Which ones may the cross- section $\sigma$ effects belong to? 2) One method has calculated number of energetic recoils (both ions and carbon atoms), which hit the metal layer below the damaged tube, to study the stopping of both incident ions and recoil carbon atoms in it. Another method has calculated the ion- deposited energy $E_0-E_{penetrating}$ in the damaged tube, to distinguish between penetrating and stopped ions. Which method is better for studying the stopping between two ones? 3) Why can tens of the graphitic shells easily stop energetic ions with energies up to 10 keV? Which effects on the stopping? In kinetic energy formulas, we give answers for discussion., Comment: 7 pages

We give a numerical simulation of the generation of the magnetic field and the charge-separation signal due to the chiral magnetic effect (CME) --- the induction of an electric current by the magnetic field in a parity-odd matter --- in the collisions of isobaric nuclei, $^{96}_{44}$Ru + $^{96}_{44}$Ru and $^{96}_{40}$Zr + $^{96}_{40}$Zr, at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=200$ GeV. We show that such collisions provide an ideal tool to disentangle the CME signal from the possible elliptic-flow driven background effects. We also discuss some other effects that can be tested by using the isobaric collisions., Comment: Proceedings of XXVIth International Conference on Ultrarelativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions (Quark Matter 2017)