Perturbative QCD Fragmentation Functions for Production of P-wave Mesons with Charm and Beauty

We calculate the leading order QCD fragmentation functions for the production of $P$-wave charmed beauty mesons. Long-distance effects are factored into two nonperturbative parameters: the derivative of the radial wavefunction at the origin and a second parameter related to the probability for a $(\bar b c)$ heavy quark pair that is produced in a color-octet $S$-wave state to form a color-singlet $P$-wave bound state. The four $2P$ states and those $3P$ states which lie below the $BD$ flavor threshold eventually all decay into the $1S$ ground state $B_c$ through hadronic cascades or by emitting photons. The total fragmentation probabilities for production of the $1S$ ground state $B_c$ from the cascades of the $2P$ and $3P$ states are about $1.7 \times 10^{-4}$ and $2.3 \times 10^{-4}$ respectively. Thus the direct production of the $P$-wave states via fragmentation may account for a significant fraction of the inclusive production rate of the $B_c$ at large transverse momentum in high energy colliders. Our analytic results for the $P$-wave fragmentation functions disagree with those obtained earlier in the literature.Comment: 31 pages, Latex file, 1 figure (postscript file appended at the end

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

Correlation effects in the ground state of trapped atomic Bose gases

We study the effects of many-body correlations in trapped ultracold atomic Bose gases. We calculate the ground state of the gas using a ground-state auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) method [Phys. Rev. E 70, 056702 (2004)]. We examine the properties of the gas, such as the energetics, condensate fraction, real-space density, and momentum distribution, as a function of the number of particles and the scattering length. We find that the mean-field Gross-Pitaevskii (GP) approach gives qualitatively incorrect result of the kinetic energy as a function of the scattering length. We present detailed QMC data for the various quantities, and discuss the behavior of GP, modified GP, and the Bogoliubov method under a local density approximation.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures, as typeset using REVTEX4. Submitted to Phys. Rev.

The Free Energy of High Temperature QED to Order e5e^{5} From Effective Field Theory

Massless quantum electrodynamics is studied at high temperature and zero chemical potential. We compute the Debye screening mass to order $e^{4}$ and the free energy to order $e^{5}$} by an effective field theory approach, recently developed by Braaten and Nieto. Our results are in agreement with calculations done in resummed perturbation theory. This method makes it possible to separate contributions to the free energy from different momentum scales (order $T$ and $eT$) and provides an economical alternative to computations in the full theory which involves the dressing of internal propagators.Comment: 10 pages Latex, 6 figure

Hadronic Production of S-wave and P-wave Charmed Beauty Mesons via Heavy Quark Fragmentation

At hadron colliders the dominant production mechanism of $(\bar bc)$ mesons with large transverse momentum is due to parton fragmentation. We compute the rates and transverse momentum spectra for production of S-wave and P-wave $(\bar b c)$ mesons at the Tevatron via the direct fragmentation of the bottom antiquark as well as the Altarelli-Parisi induced gluon fragmentation. Since all the radially and orbitally excited $(\bar b c)$ mesons below the $BD$ flavor threshold will cascade into the pseudoscalar ground state $B_c$ through electromagnetic and/or hadronic transitions, they all contribute to the inclusive production of $B_c$. The contributions of the excited S-wave and P-wave states to the inclusive production of $B_c$ are 58 and 23\%, respectively, and hence significant.Comment: Changes are made in the Discussio

Helicity Probabilities For Heavy Quark Fragmentation Into Excited Mesons

In the fragmentation of a heavy quark into a heavy meson whose light degrees of freedom have angular momentum $3/2$, all the helicity probabilities are completely determined in the heavy quark limit up to a single probability $w_{3/2}$. We point out that this probability depends on the longitudinal momentum fraction $z$ of the meson and on its transverse momentum $p_\bot$ relative to the jet axis. We calculate $w_{3/2}$ as a function of scaling variables corresponding to $z$ and $p_\bot$ for the heavy quark limit of the perturbative QCD fragmentation functions for $b$ quark to fragment into $(b \bar c)$ mesons. In this model, the light degrees of freedom prefer to have their angular momentum aligned transverse to, rather than along, the jet axis. Implications for the production of excited heavy mesons, like $D^{**}$ and $B^{**}$, are discussed.Comment: 10 pages, Latex file plus 3 figures with postscript files appended at the en

Nonuniversal Effects in the Homogeneous Bose Gas

Effective field theory predicts that the leading nonuniversal effects in the homogeneous Bose gas arise from the effective range for S-wave scattering and from an effective three-body contact interaction. We calculate the leading nonuniversal contributions to the energy density and condensate fraction and compare the predictions with results from diffusion Monte Carlo calculations by Giorgini, Boronat, and Casulleras. We give a crude determination of the strength of the three-body contact interaction for various model potentials. Accurate determinations could be obtained from diffusion Monte Carlo calculations of the energy density with higher statistics.Comment: 24 pages, RevTex, 5 ps figures, included with epsf.te

Power counting and effective field theory for charmonium

We hypothesize that the correct power counting for charmonia is in the parameter Lambda_QCD/m_c, but is not based purely on dimensional analysis (as is HQET). This power counting leads to predictions which differ from those resulting from the usual velocity power counting rules of NRQCD. In particular, we show that while Lambda_QCD/m_c power counting preserves the empirically verified predictions of spin symmetry in decays, it also leads to new predictions which include: A hierarchy between spin singlet and triplet octet matrix elements in the J/psi system. A quenching of the net polarization in production at large transverse momentum. No end point enhancement in radiative decays. We discuss explicit tests which can differentiate between the traditional and new theories of NRQCD.Comment: 18 pages, 1 figure Replaced plot of the psi polarization parameter alpha as a function of transverse momentum. Alpha is now closer to zero for large transverse moment

Semiclassical Corrections to a Static Bose-Einstein Condensate at Zero Temperature

In the mean-field approximation, a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate at zero temperature is described by the Gross-Pitaevskii equation for the condensate, or equivalently, by the hydrodynamic equations for the number density and the current density. These equations receive corrections from quantum field fluctuations around the mean field. We calculate the semiclassical corrections to these equations for a general time-independent state of the condensate, extending previous work to include vortex states as well as the ground state. In the Thomas-Fermi limit, the semiclassical corrections can be taken into account by adding a local correction term to the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. At second order in the Thomas-Fermi expansion, the semiclassical corrections can be taken into account by adding local correction terms to the hydrodynamic equations

Finite temperature formalism for nonabelian gauge theories in the physical phase space

We establish a new framework of finite temperature field theory for Yang-Mills theories in the physical phase space eliminating all unphysical degrees of freedoms. Relating our method to the imaginary time formalism of James and Landshoff in temporal axial gauge, we calculate the two-loop pressure and provide a systematic and unique method to construct the additional vertices encountered in their approach.Comment: 18 pages, 5 postscript figures, uses revtex, eps