Core-corona approach to describe hyperon global polarization in semi-central relativistic heavy-ion collisions

Abstract

We report on the core-corona model developed to describe the main features of hyperon global polarization in semicentral relativistic heavy-ion collisions as a function of the collision energy. We first neglect the contribution to polarization from hyperons produced in the corona. In this scenario, the global polarization turns out to be described by a delicate balance between the vorticity-to-spin transferring reactions in the core and the predominance of corona over core matter at low energies. We show how this last feature provides a key ingredient missing in our original model that helps to better describe the excitation function for $\Lambda$ and $\overline{\Lambda}$ global polarization. To improve the description, we then introduce the contribution to the global polarization coming from the transverse polarization of $\Lambda$s produced in the corona, which is hereby assumed to be similar to the well-known polarization produced in p + p reactions. The results show a small positive contribution to the global polarization, however they are not yet conclusive due to the small size of the MC sample used in the analysis.