Excited D-branes and Supergravity Solutions

We investigate the general solution with the symmetry ISO(1,p)xSO(9-p) of Type II supergravity (the three-parameter solution) from the viewpoint of the superstring theory. We find that one of the three parameters (c_1) is closely related to the ``dilaton charge'' and the appearance of the dilaton charge is a consequence of deformations of the boundary condition from that of the boundary state for BPS D-branes. We give three examples of the deformed D-branes by considering the tachyon condensation from systems of D-\bar{D}p-branes, unstable D9-branes and unstable D-instantons to the BPS saturated Dp-branes, respectively. We argue that the deformed systems are generally regarded as tachyonic and/or massive excitations of the open strings on Dp-\bar{D}p-brane systems.Comment: 29 pages, 6 figures, LaTeX2e, typos corrected, references adde

Wilson-like real-space renormalization group and low-energy effective spectrum of the XXZ chain in the critical regime

We present a novel real-space renormalization group(RG) for the one-dimensional XXZ model in the critical regime, reconsidering the role of the cut-off parameter in Wilson's RG for the Kondo impurity problem. We then demonstrate the RG calculation for the XXZ chain with the free boundary. Comparing the hierarchical structure of the obtained low-energy spectrum with the Bethe ansatz result, we find that the proper scaling dimension is reproduced as a fixed point of the RG transformation.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, typos corrected, final versio

Secondary phi meson peak as an indicator of QCD phase transition in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions

In a previous paper, we have shown that a double phi peak structure appears in the dilepton invariant mass spectrum if a first order QCD phase transition occurs in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions. Furthermore, the transition temperature can be determined from the transverse momentum distribution of the low mass phi peak. In this work, we extend the study to the case that a smooth crossover occurs in the quark-gluon plasma to the hadronic matter transition. We find that the double phi peak structure still exists in the dilepton spectrum and thus remains a viable signal for the formation of the quark-gluon plasma in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions.Comment: 8 pages, 9 uuencoded postscript figures included, Latex, LBL-3572

Center Domains and their Phenomenological Consequences

We argue that the domain structure of deconfined QCD matter, which can be inferred from the properties of the Polyakov loop, can simultaneously explain the two most prominent experimentally verified features of the quark-gluon plasma, namely its large opacity as well as its near ideal fluid properties

Possible Resolutions of the D-Paradox

We propose possible ways of explaining the net charge event-by-event fluctuations in Au+Au collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider within a quark recombination model. We discuss various methods of estimating the number of quarks at recombination and their implications for the predicted net charge fluctuations. We also discuss the possibility of diquark and quark-antiquark clustering above the deconfinement temperature.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Baryon Number Fluctuation and the Quark-Gluon Plasma

We show that $\omega_B$ or $\omega_{\bar B}$, the squared baryon or antibaryon number fluctuation per baryon or antibaryon, is a possible signature for the quark-gluon plasma that is expected to be created in relativistic heavy ion collisions, as it is a factor of three smaller than in an equilibrated hadronic matter due to the fractional baryon number of quarks. Using kinetic equations with exact baryon number conservation, we find that their values in an equilibrated matter are half of those expected from a Poisson distribution. Effects due to finite acceptance and non-zero net baryon number are also studied.Comment: discussion and references added, version to appear in PR

Boundary susceptibility in the spin-1/2 chain: Curie like behavior without magnetic impurities

We investigate the low-temperature thermodynamics of the spin-1/2 Heisenberg chain with open ends. On the basis of boundary conformal field theory arguments and numerical density matrix renormalization group calculations, it is established that in the isotropic case the impurity susceptibility exhibits a Curie-like divergent behavior as the temperature decreases, even in the absence of magnetic impurities. A similar singular temperature dependence is also found in the boundary contributions of the specific heat coefficient. In the anisotropic case, for $1/2<\Delta<1$, these boundary quantities still show singular temperature dependence obeying a power law with an anomalous dimension. Experimental consequences will be discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, final versio

The three-flavor chiral phase structure in hot and dense QCD matter

Chiral symmetry restoration at nonzero temperature and quark densities are investigated in the framework of a linear sigma model with N_f=3 light quark flavors. After the derivation of the grand potential in mean-field approximation, the nonstrange and strange condensates, the in-medium masses of the scalar and pseudoscalar nonets are analyzed in hot and dense medium. The influence of the axial anomaly on the nonet masses and the isoscalar mixings on the pseudoscalar \eta-\eta' and scalar \sigma(600)-f_0(1370) complex are examined. The sensitivity of the chiral phase transition as well as the existence and location of a critical end point in the phase diagram on the value of the sigma mass is explored. The chiral critical surface with and without the influence of the axial U(1)_A anomaly is elaborated as a function of the pion and kaon masses for several values of the sigma mass.Comment: 19 pages, 12 figures, 2 tables, RevTex4; revised version, accepted for publication in PR