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Updated: May 16, 2026

Setting Limits on Supersymmetry Using Simplified Models
Published on: November 15, 2013
Conformal anomaly as a source of soft photons in heavy ion collisions
Gökçe Başar1, Dmitri E Kharzeev, Vladimir Skokov
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York 11794-3800, USA. basar@tonic.physics.sunysb.edu
Abstract:
We introduce a novel photon production mechanism stemming from the conformal anomaly of QCD×QED and the existence of strong (electro)magnetic fields in heavy ion collisions. Using the hydrodynamical description of the bulk modes of QCD plasma, we show that this mechanism leads to the photon production yield that is comparable to the yield from conventional sources. This mechanism also provides a significant positive contribution to the azimuthal anisotropy of photons, v(2), as well as to the radial "flow." We compare our results to the data from the PHENIX Collaboration.
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