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CMS-HIN-25-006 ; CERN-EP-2026-241
Spin-dependent azimuthal asymmetry of coherent $ \mathrm{J}/\psi $ photoproduction in hadronic PbPb collisions at $ \sqrt{\smash[b]{s_{_{\mathrm{NN}}}}} = $ 5.36 TeV
Submitted to Physical Review Letters
Abstract: We report a measurement of the azimuthal asymmetry of muons from the decay of coherently photoproduced $ \mathrm{J}/\psi $ mesons with respect to the second-order event plane in hadronic lead-lead (PbPb) collisions. The analysis is based on data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 5.36 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.26$ \text{nb}^{-1}$. The asymmetry is quantified using the amplitude $ A_{2} $ of the second-order harmonic modulation of the decay-muon azimuthal distribution. A negative $ A_{2} = - $ 0.194 $ \pm $ 0.022 (stat) $ \pm $ 0.018 (syst) is observed with a significance greater than five standard deviations for the first time. The $ A_{2} $ values show no significant dependence on the $ \mathrm{J}/\psi $ meson rapidity or the degree of overlap of the colliding ions. A theoretical model in which the coherently photoproduced $ \mathrm{J}/\psi $ meson inherits the linear polarization of the incident photon is consistent with the data. When considered together with recent measurements of coherent ${\rho}{0} \to \pi^{+}\pi^{-} $ photoproduction in ultraperipheral collisions, these results provide a direct observation of spin dependence in the azimuthal asymmetry of decay products from coherently photoproduced vector mesons. In addition, the observed correlation with the event plane may enable a novel approach to reaction plane determination in the future.
Figures Summary References CMS Publications
Figures

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Figure 1:
The invariant mass distribution of muon pairs (left) and the acceptance- and efficiency-corrected $ \mathrm{J}/\psi $ meson $ p_{\mathrm{T}} $ spectrum (middle), both for 0.4 $ \pi < \Delta\phi < 0.5\pi $, and the coherently photoproduced $ \mathrm{J}/\psi $ meson yield as a function of $ \Delta\phi $ (right) in PbPb collisions at 50--80% centrality and in the $ \mathrm{J}/\psi $ rapidity range 1.6 $ < |y| < $ 2.4. Vertical bars represent statistical uncertainties in all three panels, while horizontal bars in the middle and right panels indicate the bin widths.

png pdf
Figure 1-a:
The invariant mass distribution of muon pairs (left) and the acceptance- and efficiency-corrected $ \mathrm{J}/\psi $ meson $ p_{\mathrm{T}} $ spectrum (middle), both for 0.4 $ \pi < \Delta\phi < 0.5\pi $, and the coherently photoproduced $ \mathrm{J}/\psi $ meson yield as a function of $ \Delta\phi $ (right) in PbPb collisions at 50--80% centrality and in the $ \mathrm{J}/\psi $ rapidity range 1.6 $ < |y| < $ 2.4. Vertical bars represent statistical uncertainties in all three panels, while horizontal bars in the middle and right panels indicate the bin widths.

png pdf
Figure 1-b:
The invariant mass distribution of muon pairs (left) and the acceptance- and efficiency-corrected $ \mathrm{J}/\psi $ meson $ p_{\mathrm{T}} $ spectrum (middle), both for 0.4 $ \pi < \Delta\phi < 0.5\pi $, and the coherently photoproduced $ \mathrm{J}/\psi $ meson yield as a function of $ \Delta\phi $ (right) in PbPb collisions at 50--80% centrality and in the $ \mathrm{J}/\psi $ rapidity range 1.6 $ < |y| < $ 2.4. Vertical bars represent statistical uncertainties in all three panels, while horizontal bars in the middle and right panels indicate the bin widths.

png pdf
Figure 1-c:
The invariant mass distribution of muon pairs (left) and the acceptance- and efficiency-corrected $ \mathrm{J}/\psi $ meson $ p_{\mathrm{T}} $ spectrum (middle), both for 0.4 $ \pi < \Delta\phi < 0.5\pi $, and the coherently photoproduced $ \mathrm{J}/\psi $ meson yield as a function of $ \Delta\phi $ (right) in PbPb collisions at 50--80% centrality and in the $ \mathrm{J}/\psi $ rapidity range 1.6 $ < |y| < $ 2.4. Vertical bars represent statistical uncertainties in all three panels, while horizontal bars in the middle and right panels indicate the bin widths.

png pdf
Figure 2:
The amplitude of the $ \cos(2\Delta\phi) $ modulation, $ A_2 $, of muons from the decays of coherently photoproduced $ \mathrm{J}/\psi $ mesons as a function of collision centrality (left) and $ \mathrm{J}/\psi $ rapidity (right) in PbPb collisions at $ \sqrt{\smash[b]{s_{_{\mathrm{NN}}}}} = $ 5.36 TeV. The error bars represent the statistical uncertainties, and the shaded boxes represent the systematic uncertainties. The black open squares [34] and blue open diamonds [70] represent theoretical predictions that account for the correlation between the vector meson polarization and the event plane. The open boxes around the theoretical predictions indicate their uncertainties.

png pdf
Figure 2-a:
The amplitude of the $ \cos(2\Delta\phi) $ modulation, $ A_2 $, of muons from the decays of coherently photoproduced $ \mathrm{J}/\psi $ mesons as a function of collision centrality (left) and $ \mathrm{J}/\psi $ rapidity (right) in PbPb collisions at $ \sqrt{\smash[b]{s_{_{\mathrm{NN}}}}} = $ 5.36 TeV. The error bars represent the statistical uncertainties, and the shaded boxes represent the systematic uncertainties. The black open squares [34] and blue open diamonds [70] represent theoretical predictions that account for the correlation between the vector meson polarization and the event plane. The open boxes around the theoretical predictions indicate their uncertainties.

png pdf
Figure 2-b:
The amplitude of the $ \cos(2\Delta\phi) $ modulation, $ A_2 $, of muons from the decays of coherently photoproduced $ \mathrm{J}/\psi $ mesons as a function of collision centrality (left) and $ \mathrm{J}/\psi $ rapidity (right) in PbPb collisions at $ \sqrt{\smash[b]{s_{_{\mathrm{NN}}}}} = $ 5.36 TeV. The error bars represent the statistical uncertainties, and the shaded boxes represent the systematic uncertainties. The black open squares [34] and blue open diamonds [70] represent theoretical predictions that account for the correlation between the vector meson polarization and the event plane. The open boxes around the theoretical predictions indicate their uncertainties.
Summary
In summary, we present a measurement of the azimuthal asymmetry of muons from the decay of coherently photoproduced$ \mathrm{J}/\psi $ vector mesons with respect to the second-order event plane in hadronic lead-lead collisions at a nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 5.36 TeV. The asymmetry amplitude $A_{2}$ is found to be negative and shows no significant dependence on$ \mathrm{J}/\psi $ rapidity or collision centrality. These observations are consistent with theoretical expectations linking the linear polarization of the$ \mathrm{J}/\psi $ to the reaction plane. Therefore, it may be feasible to use the intrinsic polarization of coherently photoproduced vector mesons as a complementary reaction-plane estimator in heavy ion collisions. Such an approach could be particularly advantageous in small systems, such as proton-nucleus collisions. Together with previously measured positive amplitudes for spin-0 pion final states from coherently photoproduced ${\rho}{0} $ mesons, these results provide the first observation of spin-state dependence in azimuthal asymmetries.
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Compact Muon Solenoid
LHC, CERN