Local equilibrium of the quark-gluon plasma

Within kinetic theory, we look for local equilibrium configurations of the quark-gluon plasma by maximizing the local entropy. We use the well-established transport equations in the Vlasov limit, supplemented with the Waldmann-Snider collision terms. Two different classes of local equilibrium solutions are found. The first one corresponds to the configurations that comply with the so-called collisional invariants. The second one is given by the distribution functions that cancel the collision terms, representing the most probable binary interactions with soft gluon exchange in the t-channel. The two sets of solutions agree with each other if we go beyond these dominant processes and take into account subleading quark-antiquark annihilation/creation and gluon number non-conserving processes. The local equilibrium state appears to be colorful, as the color charges are not locally neutralized. Properties of such an equilibrium state are analyzed. In particular, the related hydrodynamic equations of a colorful fluid are derived. Possible neutralization processes are also briefly discussed.Comment: 20 pages; minor changes, to be published in Phys. Rev.

Classical transport equation in non-commutative QED at high temperature

We show that the high temperature behavior of non-commutative QED may be simply obtained from Boltzmann transport equations for classical particles. The transport equation for the charge neutral particle is shown to be characteristically different from that for the charged particle. These equations correctly generate, for arbitrary values of the non-commutative parameter theta, the leading, gauge independent hard thermal loops, arising from the fermion and the gauge sectors. We briefly discuss the generating functional of hard thermal amplitudes.Comment: 11 page

A remark on non-Abelian classical kinetic theory

It is known that non-Abelian classical kinetic theory reproduces the Hard Thermal/Dense Loop (HTL/HDL) effective action of QCD, obtained after integrating out the hardest momentum scales from the system, as well as the first higher dimensional operator beyond the HTL/HDL level. We discuss here its applicability at still higher orders, by comparing the exact classical effective action obtained in the static limit, with the 1-loop quantum effective potential. We remark that while correct types of operators arise, the classical colour algebra reproduces correctly the prefactor of the 4-point function $tr A_0^4$ only for matter in asymptotically high dimensional colour representations.Comment: 6 page

Transport equation for the photon Wigner operator in non-commutative QED

We derive an exact quantum equation of motion for the photon Wigner operator in non-commutative QED, which is gauge covariant. In the classical approximation, this reduces to a simple transport equation which describes the hard thermal effects in this theory. As an example of the effectiveness of this method we show that, to leading order, this equation generates in a direct way the Green amplitudes calculated perturbatively in quantum field theory at high temperature.Comment: 13 pages, twocolumn revtex4 styl

Incompatible sets of gradients and metastability

We give a mathematical analysis of a concept of metastability induced by incompatibility. The physical setting is a single parent phase, just about to undergo transformation to a product phase of lower energy density. Under certain conditions of incompatibility of the energy wells of this energy density, we show that the parent phase is metastable in a strong sense, namely it is a local minimizer of the free energy in an $L^1$ neighbourhood of its deformation. The reason behind this result is that, due to the incompatibility of the energy wells, a small nucleus of the product phase is necessarily accompanied by a stressed transition layer whose energetic cost exceeds the energy lowering capacity of the nucleus. We define and characterize incompatible sets of matrices, in terms of which the transition layer estimate at the heart of the proof of metastability is expressed. Finally we discuss connections with experiment and place this concept of metastability in the wider context of recent theoretical and experimental research on metastability and hysteresis.Comment: Archive for Rational Mechanics and Analysis, to appea

Parties, promiscuity and politicisation: business-political networks in Poland

Research on post-communist political economy has begun to focus on the interface between business and politics. It is widely agreed that informal networks rather than business associations dominate this interface, but there has been very little systematic research in this area. The literature tends to assume that a politicised economy entails business-political networks that are structured by parties. Theoretically, this article distinguishes politicisation from party politicisation and argues that the two are unlikely to be found together in a post-communist context. Empirically, elite survey data and qualitative interviews are used to explore networks of businesspeople and politicians in Poland. Substantial evidence is found against the popular idea that Polish politicians have business clienteles clearly separated from each other according to party loyalties. Instead, it is argued that these politicians and businesspeople are promiscuous. Since there seems to be little that is unusual about the Polish case, this conclusion has theoretical, methodological, substantive and policy implications for other post-communist countries

Hadron widths in mixed-phase matter

We derive classically an expression for a hadron width in a two-phase region of hadron gas and quark-gluon plasma (QGP). The presence of QGP gives hadrons larger widths than they would have in a pure hadron gas. We find that the $\phi$ width observed in a central Au+Au collision at $\sqrt{s}=200$ GeV/nucleon is a few MeV greater than the width in a pure hadron gas. The part of observed hadron widths due to QGP is approximately proportional to $(dN/dy)^{-1/3}$.Comment: 8 pages, latex, no figures, KSUCNR-002-9

Thermal and Hadrochemical Equilibration in Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions at the SPS

The currently available set of hadron abundances at the SPS for central S+Au(W,Pb) collisions is compared to predictions from a scenario assuming local thermal and hadrochemical equilibrium. The data are consistent with a freeze-out temperature T = 160-170 MeV. Spectra are consistent with this temperature range and a moderate transverse expansion. The freeze-out points at the AGS and SPS are found to be close to the phase boundary between a hadron gas and an ideal quark-gluon phase.Comment: 14 pages + 3 figures. Paper replaced with version accepted for publication in Phys. Lett.

Nuclear Self-energy and Realistic Interactions

The structure of nucleon self-energy in nuclear matter is evaluated for various realistic models of the nucleon-nucleon (NN) interaction. Starting from the Brueckner-Hartree-Fock approximation without the usual angle-average approximation, the effects of hole-hole contributions and a self-consistent treatment within the framework of the Green function approach are investigated. Special attention is paid to the predictions for the spectral function originating from various models of the NN interaction which all yield an accurate fit for the NN phase shifts.Comment: 26 pages, 12 figure

Imaging Sources with Fast and Slow Emission Components

We investigate two-proton correlation functions for reactions in which fast dynamical and slow evaporative proton emission are both present. In such cases, the width of the correlation peak provides the most reliable information about the source size of the fast dynamical component. The maximum of the correlation function is sensitive to the relative yields from the slow and fast emission components. Numerically inverting the correlation function allows one to accurately disentangle fast dynamical from slow evaporative emission and extract details of the shape of the two-proton source.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure