Charge-dependent directed flow splitting in symmetric nuclear collisions

The directed flow ($v_1$) of identified hadrons ($\pi^{\pm}, K^{\pm}, p, \bar{p}, \phi, \Lambda$, and $\bar{\Lambda}$) is studied in symmetric nuclear collisions (O+O, Cu+Cu, Ru+Ru, Au+Au, and U+U) at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200$ GeV using the string-melting version of a multiphase transport model with improved quark coalescence. The mid-rapidity $v_1$-slope ($dv_1/dy$) and its charge-dependent splitting ($\Delta dv_1/dy$) between particles and anti-particles are investigated as a function of nuclear mass number ($A$) and collision centrality in both low-$p_\mathrm{T}$ (0.2$-$2.0 GeV/$c$) and high-$p_\mathrm{T}$ (2.0$-$5.0 GeV/$c$) regions. At low-$p_\mathrm{T}$, the $v_1$-slope shows weak system-size dependence, while at high-$p_\mathrm{T}$ strong system-size dependence is found and it becomes negative with nuclear mass number, reflecting the hard-soft asymmetry in particle production. The charge-dependent splitting $\Delta dv_1/dy$ reveals a striking baryon-meson dichotomy: baryon pairs ($p-\bar{p}$ and $\Lambda-\bar{\Lambda}$) exhibit significant splitting that grows with system size, whereas meson pairs ($\pi^+-\pi^-$ and $K^+-K^-$) show minimal splitting. The effect of final state hadronic interactions on the $v_1$-slope is found to be negligible confirming that it is primarily generated during the partonic phase and coalescence process. A comparison of the AMPT results with measurements from the STAR experiment at RHIC in Au+Au collisions establishes the transported quark contribution as a baseline for the observed charge-dependent $v_1$ splitting, on top of which electromagnetic field effects must be considered.