English

Generating Tensor Polarization from Shear Stress

Nuclear Theory 2023-03-09 v2

Abstract

We derive an expression for the tensor polarization of a system of massive spin-1 particles in a hydrodynamic framework. Starting from quantum kinetic theory based on the Wigner-function formalism, we employ a modified method of moments which also takes into account all spin degrees of freedom. It is shown that the tensor polarization of an uncharged fluid is determined by the shear-stress tensor. In order to quantify this novel polarization effect, we provide a formula which can be used for numerical calculations of vector-meson spin alignment in relativistic heavy-ion collisions.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2207.01111,
  title  = {Generating Tensor Polarization from Shear Stress},
  author = {David Wagner and Nora Weickgenannt and Enrico Speranza},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2207.01111},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

16 pages, 1 figure, Version accepted for publication in Physical Review Research

R2 v1 2026-06-24T12:12:35.829Z