5,254 research outputs found
A search for inverse magnetic catalysis in thermal quark-meson models
We explore the parameter space of the two-flavor thermal quark-meson model
and its Polyakov loop-extended version under the influence of a constant
external magnetic field . We investigate the behavior of the pseudo critical
temperature for chiral symmetry breaking taking into account the likely
dependence of two parameters on the magnetic field: the Yukawa quark-meson
coupling and the parameter of the Polyakov loop potential. Under the
constraints that magnetic catalysis is realized at zero temperature and the
chiral transition at is a crossover, we find that the quark-meson model
leads to thermal magnetic catalysis for the whole allowed parameter space, in
contrast to the present picture stemming from lattice QCD.Comment: 8 pages, 5figure
On thermal nucleation of quark matter in compact stars
The possibility of a hadron-quark phase transition in extreme astrophysical
phenomena such as the collapse of a supernova is not discarded by the modern
knowledge of the high-energy nuclear and quark-matter equations of state. Both
the density and the temperature attainable in such extreme processes are
possibly high enough to trigger a chiral phase transition. However, the time
scales involved are an important issue. Even if the physical conditions for the
phase transition are favorable (for a system in equilibrium), there may not be
enough time for the dynamical process of phase conversion to be completed. We
analyze the relevant time scales for the phase conversion via thermal
nucleation of bubbles of quark matter and compare them to the typical
astrophysical time scale, in order to verify the feasibility of the scenario of
hadron-quark phase conversion during, for example, the core-collapse of a
supernova.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, talk given at the International Conference
SQM2009, Buzios, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sep.27-Oct.2, 200
Dissipation and memory effects in pure glue deconfinement
We investigate the effects of dissipation in the deconfining transition for a
pure SU(2) gauge theory. Using an effective model for the order parameter, we
study its Langevin evolution numerically, and compare results from local
additive noise dynamics to those obtained considering an exponential non-local
kernel for early times.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, to appear in the proceedings of Strong and
Electroweak Matter (SEWM06), BNL, May 200
Nucleation of quark matter in protoneutron star matter
The phase transition from hadronic to quark matter may take place already
during the early post-bounce stage of core collapse supernovae when matter is
still hot and lepton rich. If the phase transition is of first order and
exhibits a barrier, the formation of the new phase occurs via the nucleation of
droplets. We investigate the thermal nucleation of a quark phase in supernova
matter and calculate its rate for a wide range of physical parameters. We show
that the formation of the first droplet of a quark phase might be very fast and
therefore the phase transition to quark matter could play an important role in
the mechanism and dynamics of supernova explosions.Comment: v3: fits version published in Physical Review
NMR evidence for very slow carrier density fluctuations in the organic metal (TMTSF)ClO
We have investigated the origin of the large increase in spin-echo decay
rates for the Se nuclear spins at temperatures near to in the
organic superconductor (TMTSF)ClO. The measured angular dependence of
demonstrates that the source of the spin-echo decays lies with
carrier density fluctuations rather than fluctuations in TMTSF molecular
orientation. The very long time scales are directly associated with the
dynamics of the anion ordering occurring at , and the inhomogeneously
broadened spectra at lower temperatures result from finite domain sizes. Our
results are similar to observations of line-broadening effects associated with
charge-ordering transitions in quasi-two dimensional organic conductors.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Hydrodynamic Models for Heavy-Ion Collisions, and beyond
A generic property of a first-order phase transition in equilibrium, and in
the limit of large entropy per unit of conserved charge, is the smallness of
the isentropic speed of sound in the ``mixed phase''. A specific prediction is
that this should lead to a non-isotropic momentum distribution of nucleons in
the reaction plane (for energies around 40 AGeV in our model calculation). On
the other hand, we show that from present effective theories for low-energy QCD
one does not expect the thermal transition rate between various states of the
effective potential to be much larger than the expansion rate, questioning the
applicability of the idealized Maxwell/Gibbs construction. Experimental data
could soon provide essential information on the dynamics of the phase
transition.Comment: 10 Pages, 4 Figures. Presented at 241st WE-Heraeus Seminar: Symposium
on Fundamental Issues in Elementary Matter: In Honor and Memory of Michael
Danos, Bad Honnef, Germany, 25-29 Sep 200
How women’s empowerment influences fertility-related outcomes and contraceptive practices: A cross-sectional study in Mozambique
Women’s empowerment could be a crucial step for tackling gender inequality and improve women’s reproductive health and rights in Mozambique. This study aims to examine how different domains of women’s empowerment influence fertility-related outcomes and contraceptive practices in Mozambique. We used the 2015 Demographic Health Survey (DHS) conducted in Mozambique from which a sample of 2072 women aged 15 to 49 years were selected and included in this analysis. A principal component analysis was performed, and the components retained were identified as the domains of empowerment. These were: Beliefs about violence against women, Decision-making, and Control over sexuality and safe sex. A multinomial logistic regression was run to estimate the association between levels of empowerment for each domain and the study outcomes. Crude and adjusted odds ratio (OR) were calculated, with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Beliefs about violence against women and Control over sexuality and safe sex were positively associated with having 1 to 4 children. Control over sexuality and safe sex also increased likelihood of women wanting to space childbearing over more than 2 years. Decision-making increased the odds of women not wanting more children. Middle to high empowerment levels for Control over sexuality and safe sex also increased the chances of using any type of contraceptive method and using it for longer periods. All domains, from the middle to high levels of empowerment, decreased the chances of women not wanting to use contraception. Our study confirmed the multidimensional nature of empowerment showing that each domain had a different effect over specific fertility and contraceptive outcomes and reinforced the importance of a domain approach for estimating and understanding empowerment. It also revealed the critical role of Control over sexuality and safe sex domain for improving women’s ability to decide over fertility and contraceptive practices in Mozambique.We gratefully acknowledge the PhD grant from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia to SCL (SFRH/BD/146625/2019) and the contract to SF (CEECIND/01516/2017). We also thank the Faculty Research Committee (FRC) of the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Cape Town for the Post Graduate Research Training Grant (FRC Award 2019) to SCL. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript
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