Heavy Quark Thermalization in Classical Lattice Gauge Theory: Lessons for Strongly-Coupled QCD

Thermalization of a heavy quark near rest is controlled by the correlator of two electric fields along a temporal Wilson line. We address this correlator within real-time, classical lattice Yang-Mills theory, and elaborate on the analogies that exist with the dynamics of hot QCD. In the weak-coupling limit, it can be shown analytically that the dynamics on the two sides are closely related to each other. For intermediate couplings, we carry out non-perturbative simulations within the classical theory, showing that the leading term in the weak-coupling expansion significantly underestimates the heavy quark thermalization rate. Our analytic and numerical results also yield a general understanding concerning the overall shape of the spectral function corresponding to the electric field correlator, which may be helpful in subsequent efforts to reconstruct it from Euclidean lattice Monte Carlo simulations.Comment: 22 pages. v2: a reference and clarifications added; published versio

Iron Displacements and Magnetoelastic Coupling in the Spin-Ladder Compound BaFe2Se3

We report long-range ordered antiferromagnetism concomitant with local iron displacements in the spin-ladder compound BaFe$_2$Se$_3$. Short-range magnetic correlations, present at room temperature, develop into long-range antiferromagnetic order below T$_N$ = 256 K, with no superconductivity down to 1.8 K. Built of ferromagnetic Fe$_4$ plaquettes, the magnetic ground state correlates with local displacements of the Fe atoms. These iron displacements imply significant magnetoelastic coupling in FeX$_4$-based materials, an ingredient hypothesized to be important in the emergence of superconductivity. This result also suggests that knowledge of these local displacements is essential for properly understanding the electronic structure of these systems. As with the copper oxide superconductors two decades ago, our results highlight the importance of reduced dimensionality spin ladder compounds in the study of the coupling of spin, charge, and atom positions in superconducting materials

Phase diagram of the one-dimensional Holstein model of spinless fermions

The one-dimensional Holstein model of spinless fermions interacting with dispersionless phonons is studied using a new variant of the density matrix renormalisation group. By examining various low-energy excitations of finite chains, the metal-insulator phase boundary is determined precisely and agrees with the predictions of strong coupling theory in the anti-adiabatic regime and is consistent with renormalisation group arguments in the adiabatic regime. The Luttinger liquid parameters, determined by finite-size scaling, are consistent with a Kosterlitz-Thouless transition.Comment: Minor changes. 4 pages, 4 figures. To appear in Physical Review Letters 80 (1998) 560

Ground-state properties of the One-dimensional Kondo Lattice at partial Band-filling

We compute the magnetic structure factor, the singlet correlation function and the momentum distribution of the one-dimensional Kondo lattice model at the density $\rho =0.7$. The density matrix-renormalization group method is used. We show that in the weak-coupling regime, the ground state is paramagnetic. We argue that a Luttinger liquid description of the model in this region is consistent with our calculations . In the strong-coupling regime, the ground state becomes ferromagnetic. The conduction electrons show a spinless-fermion like behavior.Comment: 8 pages, Latex, 5 figures included, to be published in PRB (Rapid Communications

Absorbing systematic effects to obtain a better background model in a search for new physics

This paper presents a novel approach to estimate the Standard Model backgrounds based on modifying Monte Carlo predictions within their systematic uncertainties. The improved background model is obtained by altering the original predictions with successively more complex correction functions in signal-free control selections. Statistical tests indicate when sufficient compatibility with data is reached. In this way, systematic effects are absorbed into the new background model. The same correction is then applied on the Monte Carlo prediction in the signal region. Comparing this method to other background estimation techniques shows improvements with respect to statistical and systematical uncertainties. The proposed method can also be applied in other fields beyond high energy physics

Colour-electric spectral function at next-to-leading order

The spectral function related to the correlator of two colour-electric fields along a Polyakov loop determines the momentum diffusion coefficient of a heavy quark near rest with respect to a heat bath. We compute this spectral function at next-to-leading order, O(alpha_s^2), in the weak-coupling expansion. The high-frequency part of our result (omega >> T), which is shown to be temperature-independent, is accurately determined thanks to asymptotic freedom; the low-frequency part of our result (omega << T), in which Hard Thermal Loop resummation is needed in order to cure infrared divergences, agrees with a previously determined expression. Our result may help to calibrate the overall normalization of a lattice-extracted spectral function in a perturbative frequency domain T << omega << 1/a, paving the way for a non-perturbative estimate of the momentum diffusion coefficient at omega -> 0. We also evaluate the colour-electric Euclidean correlator, which could be directly compared with lattice simulations. As an aside we determine the Euclidean correlator in the lattice strong-coupling expansion, showing that through a limiting procedure it can in principle be defined also in the confined phase of pure Yang-Mills theory, even if a practical measurement could be very noisy there.Comment: 38 page

Orbital Selective Magnetism in the Spin-Ladder Iron Selenides Ba1−x_{1-x}Kx_{x}Fe2_2Se3_3

Here we show that the 2.80(8) {\mu}B/Fe block antiferromagnetic order of BaFe2Se3 transforms into stripe antiferromagnetic order in KFe2Se3 with a decrease in moment to 2.1(1) {\mu}B/Fe. This reduction is larger than expected from the change in electron count from Ba$^{2+}$ to K$^{+}$, and occurs with the loss of the displacements of Fe atoms from ideal positions in the ladders, as found by neutron pair distribution function analysis. Intermediate compositions remain insulating, and magnetic susceptibility measurements show a suppression of magnetic order and probable formation of a spin-glass. Together, these results imply an orbital-dependent selection of magnetic versus bonded behavior, driven by relative bandwidths and fillings.Comment: Final versio