293 research outputs found
The impact of QCD plasma instabilities on bottom-up thermalization
QCD plasma instabilities, caused by an anisotropic momentum distributions of
the particles in the plasma, are likely to play an important role in
thermalization in heavy ion collisions. We consider plasmas with two different
components of particles, one strongly anisotropic and one isotropic or nearly
isotropic. The isotropic component does not eliminate instabilities but it
decreases their growth rates. We investigate the impact of plasma instabilities
on the first stage of the ``bottom-up'' thermalization scenario in which such a
two-component plasma emerges, and find that even in the case of non-abelian
saturation instabilities qualitatively change the bottom-up picture.Comment: 12 pages, latex, one typo corrected, several minor changes in the
abstract and the text, to appear in JHE
Primordial Entropy Production and Lambda-driven Inflation from Quantum Einstein Gravity
We review recent work on renormalization group (RG) improved cosmologies
based upon a RG trajectory of Quantum Einstein Gravity (QEG) with realistic
parameter values. In particular we argue that QEG effects can account for the
entire entropy of the present Universe in the massless sector and give rise to
a phase of inflationary expansion. This phase is a pure quantum effect and
requires no classical inflaton field.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, IGCG-07 Pun
Different Scenarios for Critical Glassy Dynamics
We study the role of different terms in the -body potential of glass
forming systems on the critical dynamics near the glass transition. Using a
simplified spin model with quenched disorder, where the different terms of the
real -body potential are mapped into multi-spin interactions, we identified
three possible scenarios. For each scenario we introduce a ``minimal'' model
representative of the critical glassy dynamics near, both above and below, the
critical transition lin e. For each ``minimal'' model we discuss the low
temperature equilibrium dynamics.Comment: Completely revised version, 8 pages, 5 figures, typeset using
EURO-LaTeX, Europhysics Letters (in press
S-particles at their naturalness limits
We draw attention on a particular configuration of supersymmetric particle
masses, motivated by naturalness and flavour considerations. All its relevant
phenomenological properties for the LHC are described in terms of a few
physical parameters, irrespective of the underlying theoretical model. This
allows a simple characterization of its main features, useful to define a
strategy for its discovery.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, added reference
Are solar neutrino oscillations robust?
The robustness of the large mixing angle (LMA) oscillation (OSC)
interpretation of the solar neutrino data is considered in a more general
framework where non-standard neutrino interactions (NSI) are present. Such
interactions may be regarded as a generic feature of models of neutrino mass.
The 766.3 ton-yr data sample of the KamLAND collaboration are included in the
analysis, paying attention to the background from the reaction ^13C(\alpha,n)
^16O. Similarly, the latest solar neutrino fluxes from the SNO collaboration
are included. In addition to the solution which holds in the absence of NSI
(LMA-I) there is a 'dark-side' solution (LMA-D) with sin^2 theta_Sol = 0.70,
essentially degenerate with the former, and another light-side solution (LMA-0)
allowed only at 97% CL. More precise KamLAND reactor measurements will not
resolve the ambiguity in the determination of the solar neutrino mixing angle
theta_Sol, as they are expected to constrain mainly Delta m^2. We comment on
the complementary role of atmospheric, laboratory (e.g. CHARM) and future solar
neutrino experiments in lifting the degeneracy between the LMA-I and LMA-D
solutions. In particular, we show how the LMA-D solution induced by the
simplest NSI between neutrinos and down-type-quarks-only is in conflict with
the combination of current atmospheric data and data of the CHARM experiment.
We also mention that establishing the issue of robustness of the oscillation
picture in the most general case will require further experiments, such as
those involving low energy solar neutrinos.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures; Final version to appear in JHE
Some non perturbative calculations on spin glasses
Models of spin glasses are studied with a phase transition discontinuous in
the Parisi order parameter. It is assumed that the leading order corrections to
the thermodynamic limit of the high temperature free energy are due to the
existence of a metastable saddle point in the replica formalism. An ansatz is
made on the form of the metastable point and its contribution to the free
energy is calculated. The Random Energy Model is considered along with the
p-spin and the p-state Potts Models in their p < infinity expansion.Comment: 12 pages, LaTe
Heavy-light quark pseudoscalar and vector mesons at finite temperature
The temperature dependence of the mass, leptonic decay constant, and width of
heavy-light quark peseudoscalar and vector mesons is obtained in the framework
of thermal Hilbert moment QCD sum rules. The leptonic decay constants of both
pseudoscalar and vector mesons decrease with increasing , and vanish at a
critical temperature , while the mesons develop a width which increases
dramatically and diverges at , where is the temperature for
chiral-symmetry restoration. These results indicate the disappearance of
hadrons from the spectral function, which then becomes a smooth function of the
energy. This is interpreted as a signal for deconfinement at . In
contrast, the masses show little dependence on the temperature, except very
close to , where the pseudoscalar meson mass increases slightly by 10-20
%, and the vector meson mass decreases by some 20-30
Scale-dependent metric and causal structures in Quantum Einstein Gravity
Within the asymptotic safety scenario for gravity various conceptual issues
related to the scale dependence of the metric are analyzed. The running
effective field equations implied by the effective average action of Quantum
Einstein Gravity (QEG) and the resulting families of resolution dependent
metrics are discussed. The status of scale dependent vs. scale independent
diffeomorphisms is clarified, and the difference between isometries implemented
by scale dependent and independent Killing vectors is explained. A concept of
scale dependent causality is proposed and illustrated by various simple
examples. The possibility of assigning an "intrinsic length" to objects in a
QEG spacetime is also discussed.Comment: 52 page
l W nu production at CLIC: a window to TeV scale non-decoupled neutrinos
We discuss single heavy neutrino production e+ e- -> N nu -> l W nu, l = e,
mu, tau, at a future high energy collider like CLIC, with a centre of mass
energy of 3 TeV. This process could allow to detect heavy neutrinos with masses
of 1-2 TeV if their coupling to the electron V_eN is in the range 0.004-0.01.
We study the dependence of the limits on the heavy neutrino mass and emphasise
the crucial role of lepton flavour in the discovery of a positive signal at
CLIC energy. We present strategies to determine heavy neutrino properties once
they are discovered, namely their Dirac or Majorana character and the size and
chirality of their charged current couplings. Conversely, if no signal is
found, the bound V_eN < 0.002-0.006 would be set for masses of 1-2 TeV,
improving the present limit up to a factor of 30. We also extend previous work
examining in detail the flavour and mass dependence of the corresponding limits
at ILC, as well as the determination of heavy neutrino properties if they are
discovered at this collider.Comment: LaTeX 32 pages. Added comments and references. Matches version to
appear in JHE
Hydrodynamic obstruction to bubble expansion
We discuss a hydrodynamic obstruction to bubble wall acceleration during a
cosmological first-order phase transition. The obstruction results from the
heating of the plasma in the compression wave in front of the phase transition
boundary. We provide a simple criterion for the occurrence of the obstruction
at subsonic bubble wall velocity in terms of the critical temperature, the
phase transition temperature, and the latent heat of the model under
consideration. The criterion serves as a sufficient condition of subsonic
bubble wall velocities as required by electroweak baryogenesis.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures; comments and reference added, published versio
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