2025/11/30 by D. Y. Shen, Jinhui Chen, Shen, Diyu +9
Physics and Astronomy · #High-Energy Particle Collisions Research #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2512.00739
In heavy-ion collisions at relativistic energies, the incident nuclei travel at nearly the speed of light. These collisions deposit kinetic energy into the overlap region and create a high-temperature environment where hadrons ``melt'' into deconfined quarks and gluons. The spectator nucleons, which do not undergo scatterings, generate an ultra-intense electromagnetic field -- on the order of 1018 Gauss at Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider, and 1019 Gauss at the Large Hadron Collider. These powerful electromagnetic fields have a significant impact on the produced particles, not only complicating the study of particle interactions but also inducing novel physical phenomena. To explore the nature of these fields and their interactions with deconfined quarks, we provide a detailed overview, encompassing theoretical estimations of their generation and evolution, as well as experimental efforts to detect them. We also provide physical interpretations of the discovered results and discuss potential directions for future investigations.