Rotational Brownian motion and heavy quark polarization in QCD medium
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: We consider the rotational Brownian motion of heavy quark in QCD medium and provide analytical results for polarization of open heavy-flavor hadrons. We calculate expressions for vector and tensor polarization, corresponding to baryon spin polarization and vector meson spin alignment, respectively. Assuming that heavy quarks are initially fully spin polarized along the direction of magnetic field, we compare our results with recent experimental data from ALICE collaboration for D * + meson and provide predictions for spin polarization of open charm baryons. We propose that the transverse momentum dependence of heavy quark polarization may serve as a distinctive signature of the intense initial magnetic field generated in off-central relativistic heavy-ion collisions.
Source: Physics Letters B
Authors: Sourav Dey, Amaresh Jaiswal
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7125413409