Inhomogeneous phases in the Nambu-Jona-Lasino and quark-meson model

We discuss inhomogeneous ground states of the Nambu-Jona-Lasino (NJL) and quark-meson (QM) model within mean-field approximation and their possible existence in the respective phase diagrams. For this purpose we focus on lower dimensional modulations and point out that known solutions in the 2+1 and 1+1 dimensional (chiral) Gross-Neveu (GN) model can be lifted to the to the 3+1 dimensional NJL model. This is worked out in detail for one-dimensional modulations and numerical results for the phase diagrams are presented. Focus is put on the critical point and on vanishing temperatures. As an interesting result the first order transition line in the phase diagram of homogeneous phases gets replaced by an inhomogeneous phase which is bordered by two second order transition lines.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figure

On the unlocking of color and flavor in color-superconducting quark matter

The role of the strange quark mass for the phase structure of QCD at non-vanishing densities is studied by employing a recently developed self-consistent truncation scheme for the Dyson-Schwinger equations of the quark propagators in Landau gauge. Hereby the medium modification of the effective quark interaction by the polarization of gluons is implemented. Taking into account this effect results in significantly smaller dynamical quark masses at the Fermi surface. Due to this reduction the color-flavor locked phase is always the preferred color-superconducting phase at zero temperature and for a realistic strange quark mass.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figure

Neutrality of the color-flavor-locked phase in a Dyson-Schwinger approach

The role of neutrality constraints for the phase structure of QCD at non-vanishing chemical potentials is studied within a self-consistent truncation scheme for the Dyson-Schwinger equation of the quark propagator in Landau gauge. We find the (approximate) color-flavor-locked phase to be energetically preferred at all potentially relevant densities and for physical values of the quark masses. We furthermore observe the impossibility to define this phase by residual global symmetries and discuss the role of chemical potentials.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

Black holes and non-relativistic quantum systems

We describe black holes in d+3 dimensions, whose thermodynamic properties correspond to those of a scale invariant non-relativistic d+1 dimensional quantum system with dynamical exponent z=2. The gravitational model involves a massive abelian vector field and a scalar field, in addition to the metric. The energy per particle in the dual theory is $|\mu| d/(d+2)$, exactly as in a non-interacting Fermi gas, while the ratio of shear viscosity to entropy density is $\hbar/4\pi$.Comment: 8 pages; v2: discussion modifie

Quark spectral properties above Tc from Dyson-Schwinger equations

We report on an analysis of the quark spectral representation at finite temperatures based on the quark propagator determined from its Dyson-Schwinger equation in Landau gauge. In Euclidean space we achieve nice agreement with recent results from quenched lattice QCD. We find different analytical properties of the quark propagator below and above the deconfinement transition. Using a variety of ansaetze for the spectral function we then analyze the possible quasiparticle spectrum, in particular its quark mass and momentum dependence in the high temperature phase. This analysis is completed by an application of the Maximum Entropy Method, in principle allowing for any positive semi-definite spectral function. Our results motivate a more direct determination of the spectral function in the framework of Dyson-Schwinger equations

Color-spin locking in a self-consistent Dyson-Schwinger approach

We investigate the color-spin locked (CSL) phase of spin-one color- superconducting quark matter using a truncated Dyson-Schwinger equation for the quark propagator in Landau gauge. Starting from the most general parity conserving ansatz allowed by the CSL symmetry, the Dyson-Schwinger equation is solved self-consistently and dispersion relations are discussed. We find that chiral symmetry is spontaneously broken due to terms which have previously been neglected. As a consequence, the excitation spectrum contains only gapped modes even for massless quarks. Moreover, at moderate chemical potentials the quasiparticle pairing gaps are several times larger than expected from extrapolated weak-coupling results.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure

Radiation of a circulating quark in strongly coupled N=4 super Yang-Mills theory

The energy density and angular distribution of power radiated by a quark undergoing circular motion in strongly coupled ${\cal N}=4$ supersymmetric Yang-Mills (SYM) theory is computed using gauge/gravity duality. The results are qualitatively similar to that of synchrotron radiation produced by an electron in circular motion in classical electrodynamics: At large velocities the quark emits radiation in a narrow beam along its velocity vector with a characteristic opening angle $\alpha \sim 1/\gamma$ and radial thickness scaling like $\sim 1/\gamma^3$.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures - Talk presented by D. Nickel at QCD@Work, June 20-23rd, 2010, Martina Franca, Ital

Extraction of Spectral Functions from Dyson-Schwinger Studies via the Maximum Entropy Method

It is shown how to apply the Maximum Entropy Method (MEM) to numerical Dyson-Schwinger studies for the extraction of spectral functions of correlators from their corresponding Euclidean propagators. Differences to the application in lattice QCD are emphasized and, as an example, the spectral functions of massless quarks in cold and dense matter are presented.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figure