Advances in perturbative thermal field theory

The progress of the last decade in perturbative quantum field theory at high temperature and density made possible by the use of effective field theories and hard-thermal/dense-loop resummations in ultrarelativistic gauge theories is reviewed. The relevant methods are discussed in field theoretical models from simple scalar theories to non-Abelian gauge theories including gravity. In the simpler models, the aim is to give a pedagogical account of some of the relevant problems and their resolution, while in the more complicated but also more interesting models such as quantum chromodynamics, a summary of the results obtained so far are given together with references to a few most recent developments and open problems.Comment: 84 pages, 18 figues, review article submitted to Reports on Progress in Physics; v2, v3: minor additions and corrections, more reference

From 10 Kelvin to 10 TeraKelvin: Insights on the Interaction Between Cosmic Rays and Gas in Starbursts

Recent work has both illuminated and mystified our attempts to understand cosmic rays (CRs) in starburst galaxies. I discuss my new research exploring how CRs interact with the ISM in starbursts. Molecular clouds provide targets for CR protons to produce pionic gamma rays and ionization, but those same losses may shield the cloud interiors. In the densest molecular clouds, gamma rays and Al-26 decay can provide ionization, at rates up to those in Milky Way molecular clouds. I then consider the free-free absorption of low frequency radio emission from starbursts, which I argue arises from many small, discrete H II regions rather than from a "uniform slab" of ionized gas, whereas synchrotron emission arises outside them. Finally, noting that the hot superwind gas phase fills most of the volume of starbursts, I suggest that it has turbulent-driven magnetic fields powered by supernovae, and that this phase is where most synchrotron emission arises. I show how such a scenario could explain the far-infrared radio correlation, in context of my previous work. A big issue is that radio and gamma-ray observations imply CRs also must interact with dense gas. Understanding how this happens requires a more advanced understanding of turbulence and CR propagation.Comment: Conference proceedings for "Cosmic-ray induced phenomenology in star-forming environments: Proceedings of the 2nd Session of the Sant Cugat Forum of Astrophysics" (April 16-19, 2012). 16 pages, 5 figure

Exploring Early Parton Momentum Distribution with the Ridge from the Near-Side Jet

In a central nucleus-nucleus collision at high-energies, medium partons kicked by a near-side jet acquire a momentum along the jet direction and subsequently materialize as the observed ridge particles. They carry direct information on the early parton momentum distribution which can be extracted by using the ridge data for central AuAu collisions at \sqrt{s_{NN}}=200 GeV. The extracted parton momentum distribution has a thermal-like transverse momentum distribution but a non-Gaussian, relatively flat rapidity distribution at mid-rapidity with sharp kinematic boundaries at large rapidities that depend on the transverse momentum.Comment: In Proceedings of 20th International Conference on Ultra-Relativistic Nucleus Nucleus Collisions, Jaipur, India, Feb. 4-10, 200

Lines on projective varieties and applications

The first part of this note contains a review of basic properties of the variety of lines contained in an embedded projective variety and passing through a general point. In particular we provide a detailed proof that for varieties defined by quadratic equations the base locus of the projective second fundamental form at a general point coincides, as a scheme, with the variety of lines. The second part concerns the problem of extending embedded projective manifolds, using the geometry of the variety of lines. Some applications to the case of homogeneous manifolds are included.Comment: 15 pages. One example removed; one remark and some references added; typos correcte

Pre-equilibrium evolution of non-abelian plasma

We study the production and the equilibration of a non-Abelian $q\bar{q}$ plasma in an external chromoelectric field, by solving the Boltzmann equation with the non-Abelian features explicitly incorporated. We consider the gauge group $SU(2)$ and show that the colour degree of freedom has a major and dominant role in the dynamics of the system. It is seen that the assumption of the so called Abelian dominance is not justified. Finally, it is also shown that many of the features of microscopic studies of the system appear naturally in our studies as well.Comment: Latex pages 22, figures can be obtained from authors. Submitted to PR

Soft Electromagnetic Radiations from Relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions

The production of low mass dileptons and soft photons from thermalized Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP) and hadronic matter in relativistic heavy ion collisions is evaluated. A boost invariant longitudinal and cylindrically symmetric transverse expansion of the systems created in central collision of lead nuclei at CERN SPS, BNL RHIC, and CERN LHC, and undergoing a first order phase transition to hadronic matter is considered. A large production of low mass (M< 0.3 GeV) dileptons, and soft photons (p_T< 0.4 GeV) is seen to emanate from the bremsstrahlung of quarks and pions. We find an increase by a factor of 2--4 in the low mass dilepton and soft photon yield as we move from SPS to RHIC energies, and an increase by an order of magnitude as we move from SPS to LHC energies. Most of the soft radiations are found to originate from pion driven processes at SPS and RHIC energies, while at the LHC energies the quark and the pion driven processes contribute by a similar amount. The study of the transverse mass distribution is seen to provide interesting details of the evolution. We also find a unique universal behaviour for the ratio of M^2 weighted transverse mass distribution for M= 0.1 GeV to that for M= 0.2 and 0.3 GeV, as a function of M_T, for SPS, RHIC, and LHC energies, in the absence of transverse expansion of the system. A deviation from this universal behaviour is seen as a clear indication of the flow.Comment: Revtex fil

Fission yeast 26S proteasome mutants are multi-drug resistant due to stabilization of the pap1 transcription factor

Here we report the result of a genetic screen for mutants resistant to the microtubule poison methyl benzimidazol-2-yl carbamate (MBC) that were also temperature sensitive for growth. In total the isolated mutants were distributed in ten complementation groups. Cloning experiments revealed that most of the mutants were in essential genes encoding various 26S proteasome subunits. We found that the proteasome mutants are multi-drug resistant due to stabilization of the stress-activated transcription factor Pap1. We show that the ubiquitylation and ultimately the degradation of Pap1 depend on the Rhp6/Ubc2 E2 ubiquitin conjugating enzyme and the Ubr1 E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase. Accordingly, mutants lacking Rhp6 or Ubr1 display drug-resistant phenotypes

Extremely High Energy Neutrinos, Neutrino Hot Dark Matter, and the Highest Energy Cosmic Rays

Extremely high energy (up to 10**(22) eV) cosmic neutrino beams initiate high energy particle cascades in the background of relic neutrinos from the Big Bang. We perform numerical calculations to show that such cascades could contribute more than 10% to the observed cosmic ray flux above 10**(19) eV if neutrinos have masses in the electron volt range. The required intensity of primary neutrinos could be consistent with astrophysical models for their production if the maximum neutrino energy reaches to 10**(22) eV and the massive neutrino dark matter is locally clustered. Future observations of ultra high energy cosmic rays will lead to an indirect but practical search for neutrino dark matter.Comment: 4 latex pages, 3 postscript figures included, uses revtex.sty and psfig.sty. Submitted to Physical Review Letter

The Equation of State for Dense QCD and Quark Stars

We calculate the equation of state for degenerate quark matter to leading order in hard-dense-loop (HDL) perturbation theory. We solve the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkov equations to obtain the mass-radius relation for dense quark stars. Both the perturbative QCD and the HDL equations of state have a large variation with respect to the renormalization scale for quark chemical potential below 1 GeV which leads to large theoretical uncertainties in the quark star mass-radius relation.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Bremsstrahlung from an Equilibrating Quark-Gluon Plasma

The photon production rate from a chemically equilibrating quark-gluon plasma likely to be produced at RHIC (BNL) and LHC (CERN) energies is estimated taking into account bremsstrahlung. The plasma is assumed to be in local thermal equilibrium, but with a phase space distribution that deviates from the Fermi or Bose distribution by space-time dependent factors (fugacities). The photon spectrum is obtained by integrating the photon rate over the space-time history of the plasma, adopting a boost invariant cylindrically symmetric transverse expansion of the system with different nuclear profile functions. Initial conditions obtained from a self-screened parton cascade calculation and, for comparison, from the HIJING model are used. Compared to an equilibrated plasma at the same initial energy density, taken from the self-screened parton cascade, a moderate suppression of the photon yield by a factor of one to five depending on the collision energy and the photon momentum is observed. The individual contributions to the photon production, however, are completely different in the both scenarios.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, shortened version to be published in Phys. Rev.