Partonic mean-field effects on matter and antimatter elliptic flows

Abstract

Abstract Using a partonic transport model based on the Nambu–Jona-Lasinio model, we study the effect of scalar and vector mean fields on the elliptic flows of quarks and antiquarks in relativistic heavy ion collisions that lead to the production of a baryon-rich quark matter. Although the scalar mean field, which is attractive for both quarks and antiquarks, reduces both their elliptic flows, the vector mean field, which is repulsive for quarks and attractive for antiquarks, leads to a splitting of their elliptic flows, and this effect increases with the strength of the vector coupling in the baryon-rich quark matter. Converting quarks and antiquarks to hadrons via the quark coalescence model, we further study the dependence of the transverse momentum integrated relative elliptic flow differences between protons and antiprotons, lambdas and anti-lambdas, and positively and negatively charged kaons on the strength of the quark vector coupling. These results are then compared with the experimental data measured by the STAR Collaboration in the Beam Energy Scan program at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider.