Helicity separation in heavy-ion collisions

Abstract

We study the $P$-odd effects related to the vorticity of the medium formed in noncentral heavy-ion collisions. Using the kinetic quark-gluon strings model, we perform numerical simulations of the vorticity and hydrodynamical helicity for various atomic numbers, energies, and centralities. We observed vortical structures typically occupy the relatively small fraction of the fireball volume. In the course of numerical simulations, the noticeable hydrodynamical helicity was observed to manifest specific mirror behavior with respect to the reaction plane. The effect is maximal at the Nuclotron based Ion Collider fAcility and Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research in Europe energy range.