Radiation of an electric charge in the field of a magnetic monopole

We consider the radiation of photons from quarks scattering on color-magnetic monopoles in the Quark-Gluon Plasma. We consider a temperature regime T\gsim2T_c, where monopoles can be considered as static, rare objects embedded into matter consisting mostly of the usual "electric" quasiparticles, quarks and gluons. The calculation is performed in the classical, non-relativistic approximation and results are compared to photon emission from Coulomb scattering of quarks, known to provide a significant contribution to the photon emission rates from QGP. The present study is a first step towards understanding whether this scattering process can give a sizeable contribution to dilepton production in heavy-ion collisions. Our results are encouraging: by comparing the magnitudes of the photon emission rate for the two processes, we find a dominance in the case of quark-monopole scattering. Our results display strong sensitivity to finite densities of quarks and monopoles.Comment: 28 pages, 8 figure

Towards matching user mobility traces in large-scale datasets

The problem of unicity and reidentifiability of records in large-scale databases has been studied in different contexts and approaches, with focus on preserving privacy or matching records from different data sources. With an increasing number of service providers nowadays routinely collecting location traces of their users on unprecedented scales, there is a pronounced interest in the possibility of matching records and datasets based on spatial trajectories. Extending previous work on reidentifiability of spatial data and trajectory matching, we present the first large-scale analysis of user matchability in real mobility datasets on realistic scales, i.e. among two datasets that consist of several million people's mobility traces, coming from a mobile network operator and transportation smart card usage. We extract the relevant statistical properties which influence the matching process and analyze their impact on the matchability of users. We show that for individuals with typical activity in the transportation system (those making 3-4 trips per day on average), a matching algorithm based on the co-occurrence of their activities is expected to achieve a 16.8% success only after a one-week long observation of their mobility traces, and over 55% after four weeks. We show that the main determinant of matchability is the expected number of co-occurring records in the two datasets. Finally, we discuss different scenarios in terms of data collection frequency and give estimates of matchability over time. We show that with higher frequency data collection becoming more common, we can expect much higher success rates in even shorter intervals

Sailing as Stroke Rehabilitation Strategy

Stroke (brain attack), is a serious global public health problem and the main cause of many forms of disability. The majority of stroke survivors are mostly left with motor (muscle movement or mobility) impairments. Although remarkable developments have been made in drug treatment, post-stroke care continues to rely on rehabilitation interventions mostly. On the other hand, the presence of post-stroke depression has been associated with decreases in functional recovery, social activity and cognition. Therefore, this project aims to improve the quality of people’s lives after a stroke by introducing sailing as outdoor mobility rehabilitation. It is intended to increase the patients’ motivation and engagement in the rehabilitation process by a more enjoyable and relaxing intervention than the existing ones especially for long term periods. The project, based on a haptic system installed on the deck of NYTEC 28 sailing boat, aim to monitoring rehab process development in post-stroke during normal sailing activity

QGP Susceptibilities from PNJL Model

An improved version of the PNJL model is used to calculate various thermodynamical quantities, {\it viz.}, quark number susceptibility, isospin susceptibility, specific heat, speed of sound and conformal measure. Comparison with Lattice data is found to be encouraging.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, poster presented at Quark Matter'0

Effective Model Approach to the Dense State of QCD Matter

The first-principle approach to the dense state of QCD matter, i.e. the lattice-QCD simulation at finite baryon density, is not under theoretical control for the moment. The effective model study based on QCD symmetries is a practical alternative. However the model parameters that are fixed by hadronic properties in the vacuum may have unknown dependence on the baryon chemical potential. We propose a new prescription to constrain the effective model parameters by the matching condition with the thermal Statistical Model. In the transitional region where thermal quantities blow up in the Statistical Model, deconfined quarks and gluons should smoothly take over the relevant degrees of freedom from hadrons and resonances. We use the Polyakov-loop coupled Nambu--Jona-Lasinio (PNJL) model as an effective description in the quark side and show how the matching condition is satisfied by a simple ansatz on the Polyakov loop potential. Our results favor a phase diagram with the chiral phase transition located at slightly higher temperature than deconfinement which stays close to the chemical freeze-out points.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures; Talk at International Workshop on High Density Nuclear Matter, Cape Town, South Africa, April 6-9, 201

Thermodynamics of two-colour QCD and the Nambu Jona-Lasinio model

We investigate two-flavour and two-colour QCD at finite temperature and chemical potential in comparison with a corresponding Nambu and Jona-Lasinio model. By minimizing the thermodynamic potential of the system, we confirm that a second order phase transition occurs at a value of the chemical potential equal to half the mass of the chiral Goldstone mode. For chemical potentials beyond this value the scalar diquarks undergo Bose condensation and the diquark condensate is nonzero. We evaluate the behaviour of the chiral condensate, the diquark condensate, the baryon charge density and the masses of scalar diquark, antidiquark and pion, as functions of the chemical potential. Very good agreement is found with lattice QCD (N_c=2) results. We also compare with a model based on leading-order chiral effective field theory.Comment: 24 pages, 12 figure