Conformal anomaly and photon anisotropy in heavy ion collisions

ORAL

Abstract

I introduce a novel mechanism for anisotropic photon production in heavy ion collisions, stemming from the interplay between anomalies of QCDxQED and the existence of strong (electro)magnetic fields. For the case of conformal anomaly, using the hydrodynamical description of the bulk modes of QCD plasma, I show that this mechanism leads to the pho- ton production yield that is comparable to the yield from conventional sources. Furthermore, this mechanism provides a a significant positive contribution to the azimuthal anisotropy of photons (v2) and shows agree- ment with the PHENIX data.

*This research was supported by the US Department of Energy under Contracts DE-AC02-98CH10886 and DE-FG-88ER41723.

Authors

  • Gokce Basar

    • Stony Brook University
  • Dmitri Kharzeev

    • Stony Brook University \& Brookhaven National Laboratory
    • Stony Brook University
  • Vladimir Skokov

    • Brookhaven National Laboratory