Wilson Loops in string duals of Walking and Flavored Systems

We consider the VEV of Wilson loop operators by studying the behavior of string probes in solutions of Type IIB string theory generated by Nc D5 branes wrapped on an internal manifold. In particular, we focus on solutions to the background equations that are dual to field theories with a walking gauge coupling as well as for flavored systems. We present in detail our walking solution and emphasize various general aspects of the procedure to study Wilson loops using string duals. We discuss the special features that the strings show when probing the region associated with the walking of the field theory coupling.Comment: 28 pages. Various figures. Version to be published

Phase Fluctuations near the Chiral Critical Point

The Helmholtz free energy density is parametrized as a function of temperature and baryon density near the chiral critical point of QCD. The parametrization incorporates the expected critical exponents and amplitudes. An expansion away from equilibrium states is achieved with Landau theory. This is used to calculate the probability that the system is found at a density other than the equilibrium one. Such fluctuations are predicted to be very large in heavy ion collisions.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, Winter Workshop on Nuclear Dynamics 201

Screening of heavy quark free energies at finite temperature and non-zero baryon chemical potential

We analyze the dependence of heavy quark free energies on the baryon chemical potential (mu_b) in 2-flavour QCD using improved (p4) staggered fermions with a bare quark mass of m/T = 0.4. By performing a 6th order Taylor expansion in the chemical potential which circumvents the sign problem. The Taylor expansion coefficients of colour singlet and colour averaged free energies are calculated and from this the expansion coefficients for the corresponding screening masses are determined. We find that for small mu_b the free energies of a static quark anti-quark pair decrease in a medium with a net excess of quarks and that screening is well described by a screening mass which increases with increasing mu_b. The mu_b-dependent corrections to the screening masses are well described by perturbation theory for T > 2 T_c. In particular, we find for all temperatures above T_c that the expansion coefficients for singlet and colour averaged screening masses differ by a factor 2.Comment: 14 page

Technicolor and Beyond: Unification in Theory Space

The salient features of models of dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking are reviewed. The ideal walking idea is introduced according to which one should carefully take into account the effects of the extended technicolor dynamics on the technicolor dynamics itself. The effects amount at the enhancement of the anomalous dimension of the mass of the techniquarks allowing to decouple the Flavor Changing Neutral Currents problem from the one of the generation of the top mass. Precision data constraints are reviewed focussing on the latest crucial observation that the S-parameter can be computed exactly near the upper end of the conformal window (Conformal S-parameter) with relevant consequences on the selection of nature's next strong force. We will then introduce the Minimal Walking Technicolor (MWT) models. In the second part of this review we consider the interesting possibility to marry supersymmetry and technicolor. The reason is to provide a unification of different extensions of the standard model. For example, this means that one can recover, according to the parameters and spectrum of the theory distinct extensions of the standard model, from supersymmetry to technicolor and unparticle physiscs. A surprising result is that a minimal (in terms of the smallest number of fields) supersymmetrization of the MWT model leads to the maximal supersymmetry in four dimensions, i.e. N=4 SYM.Comment: Extended version of the PASCOS10 proceedings for the Plenary Tal

Four-dimensional Simulation of the Hot Electroweak Phase Transition with the SU(2) Gauge-Higgs Model

We study the finite-temperature phase transition of the four-dimensional SU(2) gauge-Higgs model for intermediate values of the Higgs boson mass in the range 50 \lsim m_H \lsim 100GeV on a lattice with the temporal lattice size $N_t=2$. The order of the transition is systematically examined using finite size scaling methods. Behavior of the interface tension and the latent heat for an increasing Higgs boson mass is also investigated.Comment: Talk presented at LATTICE96(electroweak), 3 pages of LaTeX, 4 PostScript figure

Covariant transport approach for strongly interacting partonic systems

The dynamics of partons, hadrons and strings in relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions is analyzed within the novel Parton-Hadron-String Dynamics (PHSD) transport approach, which is based on a dynamical quasiparticle model for partons (DQPM) matched to reproduce recent lattice-QCD results - including the partonic equation of state - in thermodynamic equilibrium. Scalar- and vector-interaction densities are extracted from the DQPM as well as effective scalar- and vector-mean fields for the partons. The transition from partonic to hadronic degrees of freedom is described by covariant transition rates for the fusion of quark-antiquark pairs or three quarks (antiquarks), respectively, obeying flavor current-conservation, color neutrality as well as energy-momentum conservation. Since the dynamical quarks and antiquarks become very massive close to the phase transition, the formed resonant 'pre-hadronic' color-dipole states ($q\bar{q}$ or $qqq$) are of high invariant mass, too, and sequentially decay to the groundstate meson and baryon octets increasing the total entropy. When applying the PHSD approach to Pb+Pb colllisions at 158 A$\cdot$GeV we find a significant effect of the partonic phase on the production of multi-strange antibaryons due to a slightly enhanced $s{\bar s}$ pair production from massive time-like gluon decay and a larger formation of antibaryons in the hadronization process.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, to be published in the Proceedings of the 26th Winter Workshop on `Nuclear Dynamics', Ochto Rios, Jamaica, 2-9 January, 2010

What does a strongly excited 't Hooft-Polyakov magnetic monopole do?

The time evolution of strongly exited SU(2) Bogomolny-Prasad-Sommerfield (BPS) magnetic monopoles in Minkowski spacetime is investigated by means of numerical simulations based on the technique of conformal compactification and on the use of hyperboloidal initial value problem. It is found that an initially static monopole does not radiate the entire energy of the exciting pulse toward future null infinity. Rather, a long-lasting quasi-stable `breathing state' develops in the central region and certain expanding shell structures -- built up by very high frequency oscillations -- are formed in the far away region.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure

Zero Magnetization States in Electrodeposited Co0.45Fe0.55 Nanowire Arrays

Co0.45Fe0.55 alloy nanowires with 12 to 35 nm diameter and 12 μm length were fabricated by electrodeposition in porous anodic alumina templates. The initial magnetization curves reveal that the zero magnetization state is not unique and is determined by the field history (acdemagnetization process) leading to the zero average moment state. For acdemagnetization processes with the field applied parallel to the nanowire axis, the subsequent magnetization curves suggest that an individual nanowire behaves as a single domain with neighboring nanowires being antiparallel to each other in the zero magnetization state. However, for a demagnetization process with the field applied perpendicular to the nanowires, a different zero magnetization state is created in which the individual nanowires consist of multidomains having opposite axial orientations. These results are consistent with the asymmetric (symmetric) behavior found in the minor hysteresis loops measured after perpendicular (parallel) acdemagnetization on these nanowire arrays

Fabrication and Characterization of Co1−xFex Alloy Nanowires

Co1−xFex alloy nanowires with 40 nm diam and x=0–1.0 were fabricated by electrodeposition in nanopores of alumina templates. The crystalline structure of the nanowires is concentration dependent and shows a transition from the cobalt hexagonal-closed-packed structure (hcp) to a face-centered-cubic structure (fcc) in the concentration range

Fabrication and Characterization of Co1−xFex Alloy Nanowires

Co1−xFex alloy nanowires with 40 nm diam and x=0–1.0 were fabricated by electrodeposition in nanopores of alumina templates. The crystalline structure of the nanowires is concentration dependent and shows a transition from the cobalt hexagonal-closed-packed structure (hcp) to a face-centered-cubic structure (fcc) in the concentration range