17 research outputs found
The ratio of viscosity to entropy density in a pion gas satisfies the KSS holographic bound
We evaluate the ratio of shear viscosity to entropy density in a pion gas
employing the Uehling-Uehlenbeck equation and experimental phase-shifts
parameterized by means of the SU(2) Inverse Amplitude Method. We find that the
ratio for this monocomponent gas stays well above the KSS 1/(4 pi) bound. We
find similar results with other sets of phase shifts and conclude the bound is
nowhere violated.Comment: 2 page text, three figures. V2: short comment and graph added to
assert that a minimum of eta/s is not discarded from the hadron, low T side
in a heavy-ion collisio
Stochastic String Motion Above and Below the World Sheet Horizon
We study the stochastic motion of a relativistic trailing string in black
hole AdS_5. The classical string solution develops a world-sheet horizon and we
determine the associated Hawking radiation spectrum. The emitted radiation
causes fluctuations on the string both above and below the world-sheet horizon.
In contrast to standard black hole physics, the fluctuations below the horizon
are causally connected with the boundary of AdS. We derive a bulk stochastic
equation of motion for the dual string and use the AdS/CFT correspondence to
determine the evolution a fast heavy quark in the strongly coupled
plasma. We find that the kinetic mass of the quark decreases by while the correlation time of world sheet
fluctuations increases by .Comment: 27 pages, 5 figures; v2 final version, small changes, references
adde
Spin dynamics simulations of the magnetic dynamics of RbMnF and direct comparison with experiment
Spin-dynamics techniques have been used to perform large-scale simulations of
the dynamic behavior of the classical Heisenberg antiferromagnet in simple
cubic lattices with linear sizes . This system is widely recognized
as an appropriate model for the magnetic properties of RbMnF.
Time-evolutions of spin configurations were determined numerically from coupled
equations of motion for individual spins using a new algorithm implemented by
Krech {\it etal}, which is based on fourth-order Suzuki-Trotter decompositions
of exponential operators. The dynamic structure factor was calculated from the
space- and time-displaced spin-spin correlation function. The crossover from
hydrodynamic to critical behavior of the dispersion curve and spin-wave
half-width was studied as the temperature was increased towards the critical
temperature. The dynamic critical exponent was estimated to be , which is slightly lower than the dynamic scaling prediction, but in
good agreement with a recent experimental value. Direct, quantitative
comparisons of both the dispersion curve and the lineshapes obtained from our
simulations with very recent experimental results for RbMnF are presented.Comment: 30 pages, RevTex, 9 figures, to appear in PR
Does parton saturation at high density explain hadron multiplicities at RHIC ?
We discuss the recent claim that hadron multiplicities measured at RHIC
energies are directly described in terms of gluon degrees of freedom fixed from
the initial conditions of central heavy ion collisions. The argument is based
on the parton saturation scenario expected to be valid at high parton densities
and on the assumption of conserved gluon number. Alternatively we conjecture
that "bottom-up" equilibration before hadronization modifies this picture, due
to nonconservation of the number of gluons.Comment: 8 page
Supergravity and the jet quenching parameter in the presence of R-charge densities
Following a recent proposal, we employ the AdS/CFT correspondence to compute
the jet quenching parameter for N=4 Yang-Mills theory at nonzero R-charge
densities. Using as dual supergravity backgrounds non-extremal rotating branes,
we find that the presence of the R-charges generically enhances the jet
quenching phenomenon. However, at fixed temperature, this enhancement might or
might not be a monotonically increasing function of the R-charge density and
depends on the number of independent angular momenta describing the solution.
We perform our analysis for the canonical as well as for the grand canonical
ensemble which give qualitatively similar results.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figures; v3: clarifying comments added, references added,
version to appear in JHE
Drag Force in a Charged N=4 SYM Plasma
Following recent developments, we employ the AdS/CFT correspondence to
determine the drag force exerted on an external quark that moves through an N=4
super-Yang-Mills plasma with a non-zero R-charge density (or, equivalently, a
non-zero chemical potential). We find that the drag force is larger than in the
case where the plasma is neutral, but the dependence on the charge is
non-monotonic.Comment: 16 pages, 1 eps figure; v2: references added, typos fixed; v3: more
general ansatz, new nontrivial solution obtained, nonmonotonicity of the drag
force made explicit in new figure, version to appear in JHE
Transport Properties of the Quark-Gluon Plasma -- A Lattice QCD Perspective
Transport properties of a thermal medium determine how its conserved charge
densities (for instance the electric charge, energy or momentum) evolve as a
function of time and eventually relax back to their equilibrium values. Here
the transport properties of the quark-gluon plasma are reviewed from a
theoretical perspective. The latter play a key role in the description of
heavy-ion collisions, and are an important ingredient in constraining particle
production processes in the early universe. We place particular emphasis on
lattice QCD calculations of conserved current correlators. These Euclidean
correlators are related by an integral transform to spectral functions, whose
small-frequency form determines the transport properties via Kubo formulae. The
universal hydrodynamic predictions for the small-frequency pole structure of
spectral functions are summarized. The viability of a quasiparticle description
implies the presence of additional characteristic features in the spectral
functions. These features are in stark contrast with the functional form that
is found in strongly coupled plasmas via the gauge/gravity duality. A central
goal is therefore to determine which of these dynamical regimes the quark-gluon
plasma is qualitatively closer to as a function of temperature. We review the
analysis of lattice correlators in relation to transport properties, and
tentatively estimate what computational effort is required to make decisive
progress in this field.Comment: 54 pages, 37 figures, review written for EPJA and APPN; one parag.
added end of section 3.4, and one at the end of section 3.2.2; some Refs.
added, and some other minor change
Improved Holographic QCD
We provide a review to holographic models based on Einstein-dilaton gravity
with a potential in 5 dimensions. Such theories, for a judicious choice of
potential are very close to the physics of large-N YM theory both at zero and
finite temperature. The zero temperature glueball spectra as well as their
finite temperature thermodynamic functions compare well with lattice data. The
model can be used to calculate transport coefficients, like bulk viscosity, the
drag force and jet quenching parameters, relevant for the physics of the
Quark-Gluon Plasma.Comment: LatEX, 65 pages, 28 figures, 9 Tables. Based on lectures given at
several Schools. To appear in the proceedinds of the 5th Aegean School
(Milos, Greece
Charge-Dependent Correlations in Relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions and the Chiral Magnetic Effect
We provide a phenomenological analysis of present experimental searches for
local parity violation manifested through the Chiral Magnetic Effect. We
introduce and discuss the relevant correlation functions used for the
measurements. Our analysis of the available data from both RHIC and LHC shows
that the present experimental evidence for the Chiral Magnetic Effect is rather
ambiguous. We further discuss in some detail various background contributions
due to conventional physics, which need to be understood quantitatively in
order to draw a definitive conclusion about the existence of local parity
violation in heavy ion collisions.Comment: 37 pages, to appear in Lect. Notes Phys. "Strongly interacting matter
in magnetic fields" (Springer), edited by D. Kharzeev, K. Landsteiner, A.
Schmitt, H.-U. Ye