Lambda polarization in heavy ion collisions: from RHIC BES to LHC energies

Abstract

STAR collaboration at RHIC has recently measured the polarization of $\Lambda$ hyperons in non-central heavy ion collisions in the RHIC Beam Energy Scan (BES) program. The magnitude of the polarization was found to decrease from few percents at the lowest BES energies to $\approx0.2$% at the top RHIC energy. The polarization signal has been reproduced in different hydrodynamic calculations assuming a thermodynamic spin-vorticity coupling mechanism at the Cooper-Frye hypersurface. In this work an extension of our existing calculations of the $\Lambda$ polarization in the RHIC BES program to the top RHIC and 2.76 TeV LHC energies is presented. The longitudinal component of the $\Lambda$ polarization, which is the dominant component of the polarization at the LHC energies, is discussed. Finally we show that the global polarization of $\Lambda$ originates dominantly from the relativistic analogue of the classical vorticity, whereas the quadrupole longitudinal component originates from the gradients of temperature and acceleration of the medium when the $\Lambda$s are produced out of the fluid.