Electromagnetic field evolution in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

The hadron string dynamics (HSD) model is generalized to include the creation and evolution of retarded electromagnetic fields as well as the influence of the magnetic and electric fields on the quasiparticle propagation. The time-space structure of the fields is analyzed in detail for noncentral Au + Au collisions at {radical}(s{sub NN})=200 GeV. It is shown that the created magnetic field is highly inhomogeneous, but in the central region of the overlapping nuclei it changes relatively weakly in the transverse direction. For the impact parameter b=10 fm, the maximal magnetic field - perpendicularly to the reaction plane - is obtained of order eB{sub y}/m{sub {pi}}{sup 2}{approx}5 for a very short time {approx}0.2 fm/c, which roughly corresponds to the time of a maximal overlap of the colliding nuclei. We find that at any time, the location of the maximum in the eB{sub y} distribution correlates with that of the energy density of the created particles. In contrast, the electric field distribution, being also highly inhomogeneous, has a minimum in the center of the overlap region. Furthermore, the field characteristics are presented as a function of the collision energy and the centrality of the collisions. To explore the effect of the backmore » reaction of the fields on hadronic observables, a comparison of HSD results with and without fields is exemplified. Our actual calculations show no noticeable influence of the electromagnetic fields--created in heavy-ion collisions--on the effect of the electric charge separation with respect to the reaction plane.« less