Speaker：Jinhui Chen, Fudan University
Time:  October 27, 2026,Tuesday,10:30 am
Location: Room 9409

 
Abstract:

Quantum chromodynamics (QCD) permits topologically nontrivial gluon field configurations. In non-central relativistic heavy-ion collisions, where an extremely strong magnetic field is produced, these configurations can drive an electric-charge separation along the field direction. This is the chiral magnetic effect (CME), which originates from the interplay between gauge-field topology and the chiral anomaly. Its observation would be a direct signature of local P and CP violation in the strong interaction. This talk reviews the theoretical motivation and the experimental search for the CME at RHIC and the LHC. We begin with the principal observables, including the three-point correlator γγ, the charge-dependent azimuthal correlator δδ, and other CME-sensitive variables. We then turn to the central challenge: large backgrounds driven by elliptic flow, such as local charge conservation and momentum conservation. We discuss strategies for separating signal from background, including event-shape engineering and comparisons between the spectator and participant planes. Finally, we summarize recent results from the isobar (Ru+Ru vs. Zr+Zr) collisions and the Beam Energy Scan program, and outline the current limits and prospects for future measurements.

Speaker Profile:

Jinhui Chen is a Research Professor at Fudan University. He is a recipient of the National Young Science Fund Project (Category A and Category A Continuation Funding) and the G. Valley Award of the American Physical Society (APS). He is the Principal Investigator of the National Key R&D Program project “Experimental Study of QCD Phase Structure and Critical Point in the STAR Beam Energy Scan Experiment” under the Ministry of Science and Technology’s “Frontier Research on Large Scientific Facilities” program. He pursued his Ph.D. at the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, under the supervision of Prof. Yugang Ma in 2003. After graduating in 2008, he stayed at the institute, was promoted to Associate Research Professor in 2010 and Research Professor in 2013, and moved to Fudan University in 2018. His research focuses on basic experimental nuclear physics and the exploration of the early-Universe form of matter. He has achieved a series of results in the experimental detection of antimatter nuclei and the measurement of quark-matter properties, including the collaborative discovery of an antimatter hypernucleus and precise measurements of its mass and separation energy; exploration of the properties of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) under strong magnetic fields, where the strong-magnetic-field signal in the QGP was captured through the splitting of directed flow between particles and antiparticles; and experimental measurements of global polarization of vector mesons. As a principal author, he has published more than 10 papers in international academic journals including Science, Nature, Nature Physics, Physical Review Letters, and Physical Review X. He has received honors including the National Natural Science Award (Second Class, fourth contributor), the Shanghai Natural Science Award (First Class, fourth contributor), the Wu Youxun Physics Award of the Chinese Physical Society, the 16th China Youth Science and Technology Award, the 10th Shanghai Youth Science and Technology Talent Award, and the Young Scientist Award of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.