11,818 research outputs found
Multiplicity Fluctuations in Au+Au Collisions at RHIC
The preliminary data of the PHENIX collaboration for the scaled variances of
charged hadron multiplicity fluctuations in Au+Au at GeV are
analyzed within the model of independent sources. We use the HSD transport
model to calculate the participant number fluctuations and the number of
charged hadrons per nucleon participant in different centrality bins. This
combined picture leads to a good agreement with the PHENIX data and suggests
that the measured multiplicity fluctuations result dominantly from participant
number fluctuations. The role of centrality selection and acceptance is
discussed separately.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. C (Rapid Communication
Measures of Charge Fluctuations in Nuclear Collisions
The properties of two measures of charge fluctuations D and Delta Phi_q are
discussed within several toy models of nuclear collisions. In particular their
dependence on mean particle multiplicity, multiplicity fluctuations and net
electric charge are studied. It is shown that the measure Delta Phi_q is less
sensitive to these trivial biasing effects than the originally proposed measure
D. Furthermore the influence of resonance decay kinematics is analysed and it
is shown that it is likely to shadow a possible reduction of fluctuations due
to QGP creation.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure
Multiplicity Fluctuations in Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions: Dependence on Energy and Atomic Number
Event-by-event multiplicity fluctuations in central C+C, S+S, In+In, and
Pb+Pb as well as p+p collisions at bombarding energies from 10 to 160 AGeV are
studied within the HSD and UrQMD microscopic transport approaches. Our
investigation is directly related to the future experimental program of the
NA61 Collaboration at the SPS for a search of the QCD critical point. The
dependence on energy and atomic mass number of the scaled variances for
negative, positive, and all charged hadrons is presented and compared to the
results of the model of independent sources. Furthermore, the nucleus-nucleus
results from the transport calculations are compared to inelastic proton-proton
collisions for reference. We find a dominant role of the participant number
fluctuations in nucleus-nucleus reactions at finite impact parameter . In
order to reduce the influence of the participant numbers fluctuations on the
charged particle multiplicity fluctuations only the most central events have to
be selected. Accordingly, the samples of the 1% most central nucleus-nucleus
collisions with the largest numbers of the projectile participants are studied.
The results are compared with those for collisions at zero impact parameter. A
strong influence of the centrality selection criteria on the multiplicity
fluctuations is pointed out. Our findings are essential for an optimal choice
of colliding nuclei and bombarding energies for the experimental search of the
QCD critical point.Comment: 26 pages, 12 figures, extended version, to be published in Phys. Rev.
A shear spectral sum rule in a non-conformal gravity dual
A sum rule which relates a stress-energy tensor correlator to thermodynamic
functions is examined within the context of a simple non-conformal gravity
dual. Such a sum rule was previously derived using AdS/CFT for conformal
Supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory, but we show that it does
not generalize to the non-conformal theory under consideration. We provide a
generalized sum rule and numerically verify its validity. A useful byproduct of
the calculation is the computation of the spectral density in a strongly
coupled non-conformal theory. Qualitative features of the spectral densities
and implications for lattice measurements of transport coefficients are
discussed.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures. v5: Typos in Eq. (60) fixed. v4: References
added, matches published version. v3: Minor typographical corrections. v2:
References and some discussion in Appendix A have been added; conclusions
unchange
Shear viscosity in theory from an extended ladder resummation
We study shear viscosity in weakly coupled hot theory using the CTP
formalism . We show that the viscosity can be obtained as the integral of a
three-point function. Non-perturbative corrections to the bare one-loop result
can be obtained by solving a decoupled Schwinger-Dyson type integral equation
for this vertex. This integral equation represents the resummation of an
infinite series of ladder diagrams which contribute to the leading order
result. It can be shown that this integral equation has exactly the same form
as the Boltzmann equation. We show that the integral equation for the viscosity
can be reexpressed by writing the vertex as a combination of polarization
tensors. An expression for this polarization tensor can be obtained by solving
another Schwinger-Dyson type integral equation. This procedure results in an
expression for the viscosity that represents a non-perturbative resummation of
contributions to the viscosity which includes certain non-ladder graphs, as
well as the usual ladders. We discuss the motivation for this resummation. We
show that these resummations can also be obtained by writing the viscosity as
an integral equation involving a single four-point function. Finally, we show
that when the viscosity is expressed in terms of a four-point function, it is
possible to further extend the set of graphs included in the resummation by
treating vertex and propagator corrections self-consistently. We discuss the
significance of such a self-consistent resummation and show that the integral
equation contains cancellations between vertex and propagator corrections.Comment: Revtex 40 pages with 29 figures, version to appear in Phys. Rev.
Baryon Number and Electric Charge Fluctuations in Pb+Pb Collisions at SPS energies
Event-by-event fluctuations of the net baryon number and electric charge in
nucleus-nucleus collisions are studied in Pb+Pb at SPS energies within the HSD
transport model. We reveal an important role of the fluctuations in the number
of target nucleon participants. They strongly influence all measured
fluctuations even in the samples of events with rather rigid centrality
trigger. This fact can be used to check different scenarios of nucleus-nucleus
collisions by measuring the multiplicity fluctuations as a function of
collision centrality in fixed kinematical regions of the projectile and target
hemispheres. The HSD results for the event-by-event fluctuations of electric
charge in central Pb+Pb collisions at 20, 30, 40, 80 and 158 A GeV are in a
good agreement with the NA49 experimental data and considerably larger than
expected in a quark-gluon plasma. This demonstrate that the distortions of the
initial fluctuations by the hadronization phase and, in particular, by the
final resonance decays dominate the observable fluctuations.Comment: 24 pages, 17 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev. C; new results on
electric charge fluctuations in central Pb+Pb collisions at SPS energies have
been adde
Charge fluctuations and electric mass in a hot meson gas
Net-Charge fluctuations in a hadron gas are studied using an effective
hadronic interaction. The emphasis of this work is to investigate the
corrections of hadronic interactions to the charge fluctuations of a
non-interacting resonance gas. Several methods, such as loop, density and
virial expansions are employed. The calculations are also extended to SU(3) and
some resummation schemes are considered. Although the various corrections are
sizable individually, they cancel to a large extent. As a consequence we find
that charge fluctuations are rather well described by the free resonance gas.Comment: 32 pages, 18 figure
Analysis of nucleus-nucleus collisions at high energies and Random Matrix Theory
We propose a novel statistical approach to the analysis of experimental data
obtained in nucleus-nucleus collisions at high energies which borrows from
methods developed within the context of Random Matrix Theory. It is applied to
the detection of correlations in momentum distributions of emitted particles.
We find good agreement between the results obtained in this way and a standard
analysis based on the method of effective mass spectra and two-pair correlation
function often used in high energy physics. The method introduced here is free
from unwanted background contributions.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figure
Leading Order Calculation of Shear Viscosity in Hot Quantum Electrodynamics from Diagrammatic Methods
We compute the shear viscosity at leading order in hot Quantum
Electrodynamics. Starting from the Kubo relation for shear viscosity, we use
diagrammatic methods to write down the appropriate integral equations for
bosonic and fermionic effective vertices. We also show how Ward identities can
be used to put constraints on these integral equations. One of our main results
is an equation relating the kernels of the integral equations with functional
derivatives of the full self-energy; it is similar to what is obtained with
two-particle-irreducible effective action methods. However, since we use Ward
identities as our starting point, gauge invariance is preserved. Using these
constraints obtained from Ward identities and also power counting arguments, we
select the necessary diagrams that must be resummed at leading order. This
includes all non-collinear (corresponding to 2 to 2 scatterings) and collinear
(corresponding to 1+N to 2+N collinear scatterings) rungs responsible for the
Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdal effect. We also show the equivalence between our
integral equations obtained from quantum field theory and the linearized
Boltzmann equations of Arnold, Moore and Yaffe obtained using effective kinetic
theory.Comment: 45 pages, 22 figures (note that figures 7 and 14 are downgraded in
resolution to keep this submission under 1000kb, zoom to see them correctly
The Earliest Near-infrared Time-series Spectroscopy of a Type Ia Supernova
We present ten medium-resolution, high signal-to-noise ratio near-infrared
(NIR) spectra of SN 2011fe from SpeX on the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility
(IRTF) and Gemini Near-Infrared Spectrograph (GNIRS) on Gemini North, obtained
as part of the Carnegie Supernova Project. This data set constitutes the
earliest time-series NIR spectroscopy of a Type Ia supernova (SN Ia), with the
first spectrum obtained at 2.58 days past the explosion and covering -14.6 to
+17.3 days relative to B-band maximum. C I {\lambda}1.0693 {\mu}m is detected
in SN 2011fe with increasing strength up to maximum light. The delay in the
onset of the NIR C I line demonstrates its potential to be an effective tracer
of unprocessed material. For the first time in a SN Ia, the early rapid decline
of the Mg II {\lambda}1.0927 {\mu}m velocity was observed, and the subsequent
velocity is remarkably constant. The Mg II velocity during this constant phase
locates the inner edge of carbon burning and probes the conditions under which
the transition from deflagration to detonation occurs. We show that the Mg II
velocity does not correlate with the optical light-curve decline rate
{\Delta}m15. The prominent break at ~1.5 {\mu}m is the main source of concern
for NIR k-correction calculations. We demonstrate here that the feature has a
uniform time evolution among SNe Ia, with the flux ratio across the break
strongly correlated with {\Delta}m15. The predictability of the strength and
the onset of this feature suggests that the associated k-correction
uncertainties can be minimized with improved spectral templates.Comment: 14 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
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