Speaker
Description
Spin correlations are among the fundamental quantum observables in many-body systems, yet direct measurements of two-particle spin correlations in relativistic heavy-ion collisions remain challenging. Existing spin studies have mainly focused on single-particle phenomena, such as hyperon polarization and vector-meson spin alignment, while genuine two-particle spin correlations in the produced hadronic system remain largely unexplored.
In this talk, we introduce a new approach, Spin Femtoscopy, which combines spin information with femtoscopic correlation measurements to probe two-particle spin correlations. The basic idea is that different two-particle spin states can lead to distinct femtoscopic correlation functions through quantum statistical effects and spin-dependent final-state interactions. Using ΛΛ pairs as a case study, the self-analyzing weak decay of Λ hyperons enables the construction of spin-sensitive correlation functions with different singlet and triplet contributions.
We will demonstrate how this approach can be used to extract the spin-state populations of ΛΛ pairs from their correlation functions and further distinguish genuine spin correlations from spin-dependent effects arising from quantum statistics and final-state interactions. This study provides a new experimental avenue for exploring the quantum spin structure of strongly interacting matter using femtoscopy.
