English

Thermal photon emission from quark-gluon plasma: 1+1D magnetohydrodynamics results

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology 2026-01-30 v2

Abstract

We investigate thermal photon production in the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) under strong magnetic fields using a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) framework. Adopting the Bjorken flow model with power-law decaying magnetic fields B(τ)=B0(τ0/τ)a\mathbf{B}(\tau) = \mathbf{B}_0 (\tau_0/\tau)^a (where aa controls the decay rate, B0=σT02B_0 = \sqrt{\sigma} T_0^2, and σ\sigma characterizes the initial field strength), we employ relativistic ideal fluid dynamics under the non-resistive approximation. The resulting QGP temperature evolution exhibits distinct aa- and σ\sigma-dependent behaviors. Thermal photon production rates are calculated for three dominant processes: Compton scattering with qqˉq\bar{q} annihilation (C+A), bremsstrahlung (Brems), and qqˉq\bar{q} annihilation with additional scattering (A+S). These rates are integrated over the space-time volume to obtain the photon transverse momentum (pT)(p_T) spectrum. Our results demonstrate that increasing aa enhances photon yields across all pTp_T, with aa \to \infty (super-fast decay) providing an upper bound. For a=2/3a = 2/3, larger σ\sigma suppresses yields through accelerated cooling, whereas for aa \to \infty, larger σ\sigma enhances yields via prolonged thermal emission. Low-pTp_T photons receive significant contributions from all QGP evolution stages, while high-pTp_T photons originate predominantly from early times. The central rapidity region (y=0)(y=0) dominates the total yield. This work extends photon yield studies to the MHD regime under strong magnetic fields, elucidating magnetic field effects on QGP electromagnetic signatures and establishing foundations for future investigations of magnetization and dissipative phenomena.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2510.06604,
  title  = {Thermal photon emission from quark-gluon plasma: 1+1D magnetohydrodynamics results},
  author = {Jie Xiong and Xiang Fan and Jing Jing and Weishan Yang and Duan She and Ze-Fang Jiang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2510.06604},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

11 pages, 12 figures, published in Chin. Phys. C50, 044105 (2026)