From meson-nucleon scattering to vector mesons in nuclear matter

We employ meson-nucleon scattering data to deduce the properties of the low-mass vector mesons in nuclear matter, and present results for the $\rho$ and $\omega$ in-medium spectral functions. The corresponding thermal emission rate for lepton pairs is also discussed.Comment: Talk given at 28th International Workshop on Gross Properties of Nuclei and Nuclear Excitations, Hirschegg, Austria, 16-22 Jan. 200

Scattering of vector mesons off nucleons

We construct a relativistic and unitary approach to 'high' energy pion- and photon-nucleon reactions taking the $\pi N, \pi \Delta$, $\rho N$, $\omega N$, $\eta N, K \Lambda, K \Sigma$ final states into account. Our scheme dynamically generates the s- and d-wave nucleon resonances N(1535), N(1650) and N(1520) and isobar resonances $\Delta(1620)$ and $\Delta(1700)$ in terms of quasi-local interaction vertices. The description of photon-induced processes is based on a generalized vector-meson dominance assumption which directly relates the electromagnetic quasi-local 4-point interaction vertices to the corresponding vertices involving the $\rho$ and $\omega$ fields. We obtain a satisfactory description of the elastic and inelastic pion- and photon-nucleon scattering data in the channels considered. The resulting s-wave $\rho$- and $\omega$-nucleon scattering amplitudes are presented. Using these amplitudes we compute the leading density modification of the $\rho$ and $\omega$ energy distributions in nuclear matter. We find a repulsive energy shift for the $\omega$ meson at small nuclear density but predict considerable strength in resonance-hole like $\omega$-meson modes. Compared to previous calculations our result for the $\rho$-meson spectral function shows a significantly smaller in-medium effect. This reflects a fairly small coupling strength of the N(1520) resonance to the $\rho N$ channel.Comment: 78 pages, 19 figures, moderately revised version, accepted in Nucl. Phys.

From meson- and photon-nucleon scattering to vector mesons in nuclear matter

We present a relativistic and unitary approach to pion- and photon-nucleon scattering taking into account the $\pi N$, $\rho N$, $\omega N$, $\eta N$, $\pi\Delta$, $K \Lambda$ and $K \Sigma$ channels. Our scheme dynamically generates the s- and d-wave nucleon resonances N(1535), N(1650), N(1520) and N(1700) and isobar resonances $\Delta(1620)$ and $\Delta(1700)$ in terms of quasi-local two-body interaction terms. We obtain a fair description of the experimental data relevant for slow vector-meson propagation in nuclear matter. The s-wave $\rho$- and $\omega$-meson nucleon scattering amplitudes, which define the leading density modification of the $\rho$- and $\omega$-meson spectral functions in nuclear matter, are predicted.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure; contribution to the Int. Workshop XXX on Gross Properties of Nuclei and Nuclear Excitations: Ultrarelativistic Heavy Ion Collisions, Hirschegg, Jan. 13-19, 200

The πN→e+e−N\pi N \to e^+e^- N reaction close to the vector meson production threshold

The $\pi^-p \to e^+e^- n$ and $\pi^+n \to e^+e^- p$ reaction cross sections are calculated below and in the vicinity of the vector meson ($\rho^0$, $\omega$) production threshold. These processes are largely responsible for the emission of $e^+e^-$ pairs in pion-nucleus reactions and contribute to the dilepton spectra observed in relativistic heavy ion collisions. They are dominated by the decay of low-lying baryon resonances into vector meson-nucleon channels. The vector mesons materialize subsequently into $e^+e^-$ pairs. Using $\pi N\to \rho^0 N$ and $\pi N \to \omega N$ amplitudes calculated in the center of mass energy interval $1.4<\sqrt s <1.8$ GeV, we compute the $\pi^-p \to e^+e^- n$ and $\pi^+n \to e^+e^- p$ reaction cross sections in these kinematics. Below the vector meson production threshold, the $\rho^0 - \omega$ interference in the $e^+e^-$ channel appears largely destructive for the $\pi^-p \to e^+e^- n$ cross section and constructive for the $\pi^+n \to e^+e^- p$ cross section. The pion beam and the HADES detector at GSI offer a unique possibility to measure these effects. Such data would provide strong constraints on the coupling of vector meson-nucleon channels to low-lying baryon resonances.Comment: Talk given at the Budapest'02 Workshop on Quark and Hadron Dynamics, Budapest (Hungary), March 3rd-7th, 200

Charge fluctuations in chiral models and the QCD phase transition

We consider the Polyakov loop-extended two flavor chiral quark--meson model and discuss critical phenomena related with the spontaneous breaking of the chiral symmetry. The model is explored beyond the mean-field approximation in the framework of the functional renormalisation group. We discuss properties of the net-quark number density fluctuations as well as their higher cumulants. We show that with the increasing net-quark number density, the higher order cumulants exhibit a strong sensitivity to the chiral crossover transition. We discuss their role as probes of the chiral phase transition in heavy-ion collisions at RHIC and LHC.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, to appear in the proceedings of Quark Matter 2011, 23-28 May 2011, Annecy, Franc

Protist predation can favour cooperation within bacterial species

Here, we studied how protist predation affects cooperation in the opportunistic pathogen bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which uses quorum sensing (QS) cell-to-cell signalling to regulate the production of public goods. By competing wild-type bacteria with QS mutants (cheats), we show that a functioning QS system confers an elevated resistance to predation. Surprisingly, cheats were unable to exploit this resistance in the presence of cooperators, which suggests that resistance does not appear to result from activation of QS-regulated public goods. Instead, elevated resistance of wild-type bacteria was related to the ability to form more predation-resistant biofilms. This could be explained by the expression of QS-regulated resistance traits in densely populated biofilms and floating cell aggregations, or alternatively, by a pleiotropic cost of cheating where less resistant cheats are selectively removed from biofilms. These results show that trophic interactions among species can maintain cooperation within species, and have further implications for P. aeruginosa virulence in environmental reservoirs by potentially enriching the cooperative and highly infective strains with functional QS system

Probing the QCD Critical Point with Higher Moments of Net-proton Multiplicity Distributions

Higher moments of event-by-event net-proton multiplicity distributions are applied to search for the QCD critical point in the heavy ion collisions. It has been demonstrated that higher moments as well as moment products are sensitive to the correlation length and directly connected to the thermodynamic susceptibilities computed in the Lattice QCD and Hadron Resonance Gas (HRG) model. In this paper, we will present measurements for kurtosis ($\kappa$), skewness ($S$) and variance ($\sigma^{2}$) of net-proton multiplicity distributions at the mid-rapidity ($|y|<0.5$) and $0.4<p_{T}<0.8$ GeV/$c$ for Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$=19.6, 39, 62.4, 130 and 200 GeV, Cu+Cu collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$=22.4, 62.4 and 200 GeV, d+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$=200 GeV and p+p collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$=62.4 and 200 GeV. The moment products $\kappa \sigma^{2}$ and $S \sigma$ of net-proton distributions, which are related to volume independent baryon number susceptibility ratio, are compared to the Lattice QCD and HRG model calculations. The $\kappa \sigma^{2}$ and $S \sigma$ of net-proton distributions are consistent with Lattice QCD and HRG model calculations at high energy, which support the thermalization of the colliding system. Deviations of $\kappa \sigma^{2}$ and $S \sigma$ for the Au+Au collisions at low energies from HRG model calculations are also observed.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, Proceedings of 27th Winter Workshon on Nuclear Dynamics. Feb. 6-13 (2011

The ρ\rho Spectral Function in a Relativistic Resonance Model

We calculate the spectral function $A_\rho$ of the $\rho$ meson in nuclear matter. The calculation is performed in the {\it low density} approximation, where the in-medium self energy $\Sigma_{med}$ is completely determined by the vacuum $\rho N$ forward scattering amplitude. This amplitude is derived from a relativistic resonance model. In comparison to previous non-relativistic calculations we find a much weaker momentum dependence of $\Sigma_{med}$, especially in the transverse channel. Special attention is paid to uncertainties in the model. Thus, we compare the impact of different coupling schemes for the $RN\rho$ interaction on the results and discuss various resonance parameter sets.Comment: 47 pages, 19 figures, some discussion and formulae added, minor typos removed, accepted for publication in Nuclear Physics