QCD Collisional Energy Loss in an Increasingly Interacting Quark Gluon Plasma

The discovery of the jet quenching in central Au + Au collisions at the Relativistic Heavy-ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory has provided clear evidence for the formation of strongly interacting dense matter. It has been predicted to occur due to the energy loss of high energy partons that propagate through the quark gluon plasma. In this paper we investigate the dependence of the parton energy loss due to elastic scatterings in a parton plasma on the value of the strong coupling and its running with the evolution of the system. We analyze different prescriptions for the QCD coupling and calculate the energy and length dependence of the fractional energy loss. Moreover, the partonic quenching factor for light and heavy quarks is estimated. We found that the predicted enhancement of the heavy to light hadrons ($D/\pi$) ratio is strongly dependent on the running of the QCD coupling constant.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures. Version to be published in the International Journal of Modern Physics

Gravitational waves in the generalized Chaplygin gas model

The consequences of taking the generalized Chaplygin gas as the dark energy constituent of the Universe on the gravitational waves are studied and the spectrum obtained from this model, for the flat case, is analyzed. Besides its importance for the study of the primordial Universe, the gravitational waves represent an additional perspective (besides the CMB temperature and polarization anisotropies) to evaluate the consistence of the different dark energy models and establish better constraints to their parameters. The analysis presented here takes this fact into consideration to open one more perspective of verification of the generalized Chapligin gas model applicability. Nine particular cases are compared: one where no dark energy is present; two that simulate the $\Lambda$-CDM model; two where the gas acts like the traditional Chaplygin gas; and four where the dark energy is the generalized Chaplygin gas. The different spectra permit to distinguish the $\Lambda$-CDM and the Chaplygin gas scenarios.Comment: Latex file, 9 pages, 11 figures eps forma

The puzzle of the soft X-ray excess in AGN: absorption or reflection?

The 2-10 keV continuum of AGN is generally well represented by a single power law. However, at smaller energies the continuum displays an excess with respect to the extrapolation of this power law, called the ''soft X-ray excess''. Until now this soft X-ray excess was attributed, either to reflection of the hard X-ray source by the accretion disk, or to the presence of an additional comptonizing medium, giving a steep spectrum. An alternative solution proposed by Gierlinski and Done (2004) is that a single power law well represents both the soft and the hard X-ray emission and the impression of the soft X-ray excess is due to absorption of a primary power law by a relativistic wind. We examine the advantages and drawbacks of reflection versus absorption models, and we conclude that the observed spectra can be well modeled, either by absorption (for a strong excess), or by reflection (for a weak excess). However the physical conditions required by the absorption models do not seem very realistic: we would prefer an ''hybrid model''.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, abstracts SF2A-2005, published by EDP-Sciences Conference Serie

RAPHAEL SAMÚ: Experiências do muralismo no Espírito Santo

A proposta deste estudo é investigar o processo de criação do artista plástico brasileiro Raphael Samú, tendo como recorte sua obra em mosaico mural, mais especificamente o mural presente na entrada da Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo UFES, em Vitória - Espírito Santo. Para tal, investigaremos através dos pressupostos da Crítica Genética e da Crítica Inferencial quais foram os caminhos tomados pelo artista durante a confecção de tal obra, apontando assim a intencionalidade do projeto poético. Agregado a este estudo localizaremos grande parte de sua produção no Estado, situando-as no âmbito do Muralismo Capixaba. Palavras-chave: Processo de Criação. Muralismo. Arte Pública. Mosaico