The gauge-string duality and heavy ion collisions

I review at a non-technical level the use of the gauge-string duality to study aspects of heavy ion collisions, with special emphasis on the trailing string calculation of heavy quark energy loss. I include some brief speculations on how variants of the trailing string construction could provide a toy model of black hole formation and evaporation. This essay is an invited contribution to "Forty Years of String Theory" and is aimed at philosophers and historians of science as well as physicists.Comment: 21 page

The Deconfinement Phase Transition in One-Flavour QCD

We present a study of the deconfinement phase transition of one-flavour QCD, using the multiboson algorithm. The mass of the Wilson fermions relevant for this study is moderately large and the non-hermitian multiboson method is a superior simulation algorithm. Finite size scaling is studied on lattices of size $8^3\times 4$, $12^3\times 4$ and $16^3\times 4$. The behaviours of the peak of the Polyakov loop susceptibility, the deconfinement ratio and the distribution of the norm of the Polyakov loop are all characteristic of a first-order phase transition for heavy quarks. As the quark mass decreases, the first-order transition gets weaker and turns into a crossover. To investigate finite size scaling on larger spatial lattices we use an effective action in the same universality class as QCD. This effective action is constructed by replacing the fermionic determinant with the Polyakov loop identified as the most relevant Z(3) symmetry breaking term. Higher-order effects are incorporated in an effective Z(3)-breaking field, $h$, which couples to the Polyakov loop. Finite size scaling determines the value of $h$ where the first order transition ends. Our analysis at the end - point, $h_{ep}$, indicates that the effective model and thus QCD is consistent with the universality class of the three dimensional Ising model. Matching the field strength at the end point, $h_{ep}$, to the $\kappa$ values used in the dynamical quark simulations we estimate the end point, $\kappa_{ep}$, of the first-order phase transition. We find $\kappa_{ep}\sim 0.08$ which corresponds to a quark mass of about 1.4 GeV .Comment: LaTex, 25 pages, 18 figure

Resonances of low orders in the planetary system of HD37124

The full set of published radial velocity data (52 measurements from Keck + 58 ones from ELODIE + 17 ones from CORALIE) for the star HD37124 is analysed. Two families of dynamically stable high-eccentricity orbital solutions for the planetary system are found. In the first one, the outer planets c and d are trapped in the 2/1 mean-motion resonance. The second family of solutions corresponds to the 5/2 mean-motion resonance between these planets. In both families, the planets are locked in (or close to) an apsidal corotation resonance. In the case of the 2/1 MMR, it is an asymmetric apsidal corotation (with the difference between the longitudes of periastra $\Delta\omega\sim 60^\circ$), whereas in the case of the 5/2 MMR it is a symmetric antialigned one ($\Delta\omega = 180^\circ$). It remains also possible that the two outer planets are not trapped in an orbital resonance. Then their orbital eccentricities should be relatively small (less than, say, 0.15) and the ratio of their orbital periods is unlikely to exceed $2.3-2.5$.Comment: 28 pages, 10 figures, 3 tables; Accepted to Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronom

Optical Spectra of SNR Candidates in NGC 300

We present moderate-resolution (<5A) long-slit optical spectra of 51 nebular objects in the nearby Sculptor Group galaxy NGC 300 obtained with the 2.3 meter Advanced Technology Telescope at Siding Spring Observatory, Australia. Adopting the criterion of [SII]/Ha>=0.4 to confirm supernova remnants (SNRs) from optical spectra, we find that of 28 objects previously proposed as SNRs from optical observations, 22 meet this criterion with six showing [SII]/Ha of less than 0.4. Of 27 objects suggested as SNRs from radio data, four are associated with the 28 previously proposed SNRs. Of these four, three (included in the 22 above) meet the criterion. In all, 22 of the 51 nebular objects meet the [SII]/Ha criterion as SNRs while the nature of the remaining 29 objects remains undetermined by these observations.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space Scienc

Search for CP violation in D0 and D+ decays

A high statistics sample of photoproduced charm particles from the FOCUS (E831) experiment at Fermilab has been used to search for CP violation in the Cabibbo suppressed decay modes D+ to K-K+pi+, D0 to K-K+ and D0 to pi-pi+. We have measured the following CP asymmetry parameters: A_CP(K-K+pi+) = +0.006 +/- 0.011 +/- 0.005, A_CP(K-K+) = -0.001 +/- 0.022 +/- 0.015 and A_CP(pi-pi+) = +0.048 +/- 0.039 +/- 0.025 where the first error is statistical and the second error is systematic. These asymmetries are consistent with zero with smaller errors than previous measurements.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

A measurement of lifetime differences in the neutral D-meson system

Using a high statistics sample of photoproduced charm particles from the FOCUS experiment at Fermilab, we compare the lifetimes of neutral D mesons decaying via D0 to K- pi+ and K- K+ to measure the lifetime differences between CP even and CP odd final states. These measurements bear on the phenomenology of D0 - D0bar mixing. If the D0 to K-pi+ is an equal mixture of CP even and CP odd eigenstates, we measure yCP = 0.0342 \pm 0.0139 \pm 0.0074.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure

Evidence for a narrow dip structure at 1.9 GeV/c2^2 in 3π+3π−3\pi^+ 3\pi^- diffractive photoproduction

A narrow dip structure has been observed at 1.9 GeV/c$^2$ in a study of diffractive photoproduction of the $~3\pi^+3\pi^-$ final state performed by the Fermilab experiment E687.Comment: The data of Figure 6 can be obtained by downloading the raw data file e687_6pi.txt. v5 (2nov2018): added Fig. 7, the 6 pion energy distribution as requested by a reade

Measurements of the Sigma_c^0 and Sigma_c^{++} Mass Splittings

Using a high statistics sample of photoproduced charmed particles from the FOCUS experiment at Fermilab (FNAL-E831), we measure the mass splittings of the charmed baryons Sigma_c^0 and Sigma_c^{++}. We find M(Sigma_c^0 - Lambda_c^+) = 167.38 +/- 0.21 +/- 0.13 MeV/c^2 and M(Sigma_c^++ - Lambda_c^+) = 167.35 +/- 0.19 +/- 0.12 MeV/c^2 with samples of 362 +/- 36 and 461 +/- 39 events, respectively. We measure the isospin mass splitting M(Sigma_c^++ - Sigma_c^0) to be -0.03 +/- 0.28 +/- 0.11 Mev/c^2. The first errors are statistical and the second are systematic.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure

'Motivate': the effect of a Football in the Community delivered weight loss programme on over 35-year old men and women's cardiovascular risk factors

The purpose of this study was to examine whether an innovative, inclusive and integrated 12-week exercise, behaviour change and nutrition advice-based weight management programme could significantly improve the cardiovascular risk factors of overweight and obese men and women over the age of 35. One hundred and ninety-four men and 98 women (mean age = 52.28 ± 9.74 and 51.19 ± 9.04) attending a community-based intervention delivered by Notts County Football in the Community over one year, took part in the study. Height (m), weight (kg), fitness (meters covered during a 6 min walk) and waist circumference (cm) were measured at weeks 1 and 12 as part of the intervention. Changes in body weight, waist circumference and fitness for men and women were measured by a 2-way repeated measures ANOVA, with significance set to p < 0.05.Weight, waist circumference and fitness significantly improved over time in both men (4.96 kg, 6.29 cm, 70.22 m; p < 0.05) and women (4.26 kg, 5.90 cm, 35.29 m; p < 0.05). The results demonstrated that the FITC lead weight loss intervention was successful in significantly improving cardiovascular risk factors in both men and women. In particular, the weight loss reductions achieved were comparable to those seen in similar, more costly men-only programmes. This is the first study to demonstrate the efficacy of such an intervention in an inclusive, mixed gender programme and more specifically, in women