Hard photon production rate of a quark-gluon plasma at finite quark chemical potential

We compute the photon production rate of a quark-gluon plasma (QGP) at finite quark chemical potential $\mu$ using the Braaten-Pisarski method, thus continuing the work of Kapusta, Lichard, and Seibert who did the calculation for $\mu =0$.Comment: 9 pages, revtex, no figures, error in soft part corrected, figures available at ftp://theorie.physik.uni-giessen.de/usr/users/ftp/photon

Fragmentation Functions for Lepton Pairs

We calculate the fragmentation function for a light quark to decay into a lepton pair to leading order in the QCD coupling constant. In the formal definition of the fragmentation function, a QED phase must be included in the eikonal factor to guarantee QED gauge invariance. We find that the longitudinal polarization fraction is a decreasing function of the factorization scale, in accord with the intuitive expectation that the virtual photon should behave more and more like a real photon as the transverse momomentum of the fragmenting quark increases.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, normalization corrected, text abbreviate

Color-Octet Fragmentation and the psi' Surplus at the Tevatron

The production rate of prompt $\psi'$'s at large transverse momentum at the Tevatron is larger than theoretical expectations by about a factor of 30. As a solution to this puzzle, we suggest that the dominant $\psi'$ production mechanism is the fragmentation of a gluon into a $c \bar c$ pair in a pointlike color-octet S-wave state, which subsequently evolves nonperturbatively into a $\psi'$ plus light hadrons. The contribution to the fragmentation function from this process is enhanced by a short-distance factor of $1/\alpha_s^2$ relative to the conventional color-singlet contribution. This may compensate for the suppression by $v^4$, where $v$ is the relative momentum of the charm quark in the $\psi'$. If this is indeed the dominant production mechanism at large $p_T$, then the prompt $\psi'$'s that are observed at the Tevatron should almost always be associated with a jet of light hadrons.Comment: 9 pages, LaTe

Photon Propagation in Dense Media

Using thermal field theory, we derive simple analytic expressions for the spectral density of photons in degenerate QED plasmas, without assuming the usual non or ultra-relativistic limit. We recover the standard results in both cases. Although very similar in ultra-relativistic plasmas, transverse and longitudinal excitations behave very differently as the electron Fermi momentum decreases.Comment: 12pp (3 PS figures available upon request), ENSLAPP-A-412/9

Hard Thermal Loops and the Sphaleron Rate on the Lattice

We measure the sphaleron rate (topological susceptibility) of hot SU(2) gauge theory, using a lattice implementation of the hard thermal loop (HTL) effective action. The HTL degrees of freedom are implemented by an expansion in spherical harmonics and truncation. Our results for the sphaleron rate agree with the parametric prediction of Arnold, Son and Yaffe: Gamma ~ \alpha^5 T^4.Comment: 3 page

Generalized forward scattering amplitudes in QCD at high temperature

We extend to a general class of covariant gauges an approach which relates the thermal Green functions to forward scattering amplitudes of thermal particles. A brief discussion of the non-transversality of the thermal gluon polarization tensor is given in this context. This method is then applied to the calculation of the ln(T) contributions associated with general configurations of 2 and 3-point gluon functions. The results are Lorentz covariant and have the same structure as the ultraviolet divergent contributions which occur at zero temperature.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

Three-boson recombination at ultralow temperatures

The effects of trimer continuum resonances are considered in the three-body recombination rate of a Bose system at finite energies for large and negative two-body scattering lengths ($a$). The thermal average of the rate allows to apply our formula to Bose gases at ultra-low temperatures. We found a good quantitative description of the experimental three-body recombination length of cesium atoms to deeply bound molecules up to 500 nK. Consistent with the experimental data, the increase of the temperature moves the resonance peak of the three-body recombination rate to lower values of $|a|$ exhibiting a saturation behavior

Comment on "Cherenkov Radiation by Neutrinos in a Supernova Core"

Mohanty and Samal have shown that the magnetic-moment interaction with nucleons contributes significantly to the photon dispersion relation in a supernova core, and with an opposite sign relative to the usual plasma effect. Because of a numerical error they overestimated the magnetic-moment term by two orders of magnitude, but it is still of the same order as the plasma effect. It appears that the Cherenkov processes gamma+nu -> nu and nu -> nu+gamma remain forbidden, but a final verdict depends on a more detailed investigation of the dynamical magnetic susceptibility of a hot nuclear medium.Comment: 2 pages, REVTEX. Submitted as a Comment to PR