Induced Electric Field Due to Thermoelectric Effects in an Evolving Quark-Gluon Plasma

Abstract

Relativistic heavy-ion collisions create a locally thermalized quark-gluon plasma (QGP) with intriguing thermoelectric properties. For the first time, we estimate the induced electric field in QGP medium due to the thermoelectric effect, even in head-on collisions. In peripheral collisions, the early-time spectator-induced magnetic field disrupts its isotropy. We use a quasiparticle model incorporating lattice QCD equation of state to calculate the induced electric field using cooling rates from Gubser hydrodynamics. Transport coefficients like Seebeck and Nernst coefficients are also analyzed with and without the presence of an external magnetic field. We also incorporate the quantum effects of Landau quantization. Our results show that the induced electric field is zero at the center and increases as we move away from the center, having a maximum value of eE≈1m<inf>π</inf>2 early in the evolution. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2025.