Disoriented isospin condensates may be the source of anomalous kaon correlations measured in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=2.76$ TeV

Abstract

The magnitude of fluctuations between charged and neutral kaons measured by the ALICE Collaboration in heavy-ion collisions at the LHC exceeds conventional explanation. Here it is shown that if the scalar condensate, which is typically associated with chiral symmetry, is accompanied by an isospin=1 field, then the combination can produce large fluctuations where $⟨\bar{u}u⟩\ne ⟨\bar{d}d⟩$. Hadronizing strange and anti-strange quarks might then strongly fluctuate between charged ($u\bar{s}$ or $s\bar{u}$) and neutral ($d\bar{s}$ or $s\bar{d}$) kaons.

5 pages, 4 figures