Dynamic calculations of magnetic field and implications on spin polarization and spin alignment in heavy ion collisions
H. B. Li, Xiao‐Liang Xia, Xu-Guang Huang, H. Z. Huang
Abstract
The magnetic field plays a crucial role in various novel phenomena in heavy-ion collisions. We solve the Maxwell equations numerically in a medium with time-dependent electric conductivity by using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) algorithm. We investigate the time evolution of magnetic fields in two scenarios with different electric conductivities at collision energies ranging from $\sqrt{{s}_{\text{NN}}}=7.7$ to 200 GeV. Our results suggest that the magnetic field may not persist long enough to induce a significant splitting between the global spin polarizations of $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}$ and $\overline{\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}}$ at freeze-out stage. However, our results do not rule out the possibility of the magnetic field influencing the spin (anti-)alignment of vector mesons.