B production at the LHC / QCD aspects

The LHC provides new opportunities to improve our understanding of the b quark using high statistics data samples and the 14 TeV center-of-mass energy. The prospects to measure the cross section for inclusive b production in events containing jets and at least one muon are presented. Studies of detector systematic effects and theoretical uncertainties are included. QCD aspects of the beauty production are discussed.Comment: Moriond QCD 2007 conference proceeding

Normal-Superfluid Interface Scattering For Polarized Fermion Gases

We argue that, for the recent experiments with imbalanced fermion gases, a temperature difference may occur between the normal (N) and the gapped superfluid (SF) phase. Using the mean-field formalism, we study particle scattering off the N-SF interface from the deep BCS to the unitary regime. We show that the thermal conductivity across the interface drops exponentially fast with increasing $h/k_B T$, where $h$ is the chemical potential imbalance. This implies a blocking of thermal equilibration between the N and the SF phase. We also provide a possible mechanism for the creation of gap oscillations (FFLO-like states) as seen in recent studies on these systems.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Quasi two-dimensional superfluid Fermi gases

We study a quasi two-dimensional superfluid Fermi gas where the confinement in the third direction is due to a strong harmonic trapping. We investigate the behavior of such a system when the chemical potential is varied and find strong modifications of the superfluid properties due to the discrete harmonic oscillator states. We show that such quasi two-dimensional behavior can be created and observed with current experimental capabilities.Comment: In response to referee comments, minor changes from the earlier versio