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 $\N=4$ plasma. We find that the kinetic mass of the quark decreases by $\Delta M=-\sqrt{\gamma \lambda}T/2$ while the correlation time of world sheet fluctuations increases by $\sqrt{\gamma}$.Comment: 27 pages, 5 figures; v2 final version, small changes, references adde

Spin dynamics simulations of the magnetic dynamics of RbMnF3_3 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 $L\leq 60$. This system is widely recognized as an appropriate model for the magnetic properties of RbMnF$_3$. 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 $z=(1.43\pm 0.03)$, 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$_3$ 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