All order resummed leading and next-to-leading soft modes of dense QCD pressure

The cold and dense QCD equation of state (EoS) at high baryon chemical potential $\mu_B$ involves at order $\alpha^2_S$ an all-loop summation of the soft mode $m_E\sim \alpha_S^{1/2} \mu_B$ contributions. Recently, the complete soft contributions at order $\alpha^3_S$ were calculated, using the hard thermal loop (HTL) formalism. By identifying {\em massive} renormalization group (RG) properties within HTL, we resum to all orders $\alpha_S^p, p\ge 3$ the leading and next-to-leading logarithmic soft contributions. We obtain compact analytical expressions, that show visible deviations from the state-of-the art results, and noticeably reduced residual scale dependence. Our results should help to reduce uncertainties in extending the EoS in the intermediate $\mu_B$ regime, relevant in particular for the phenomenology of neutron stars.Comment: 5 pages + appendices, 2 figures. Eq.(22) corrected, changes in Fig.2, added content in appendices. To appear in PR

Renormalization Group Improved Optimized Perturbation Theory: Revisiting the Mass Gap of the O(2N) Gross-Neveu Model

We introduce an extension of a variationally optimized perturbation method, by combining it with renormalization group properties in a straightforward (perturbative) form. This leads to a very transparent and efficient procedure, with a clear improvement of the non-perturbative results with respect to previous similar variational approaches. This is illustrated here by deriving optimized results for the mass gap of the O(2N) Gross-Neveu model, compared with the exactly know results for arbitrary N. At large N, the exact result is reproduced already at the very first order of the modified perturbation using this procedure. For arbitrary values of N, using the original perturbative information only known at two-loop order, we obtain a controllable percent accuracy or less, for any N value, as compared with the exactly known result for the mass gap from the thermodynamical Bethe Ansatz. The procedure is very general and can be extended straightforwardly to any renormalizable Lagrangian model, being systematically improvable provided that a knowledge of enough perturbative orders of the relevant quantities is available.Comment: 18 pages, 1 figure, v2: Eq. (4.5) corrected, comments adde

Non-perturbative analysis of the spectrum of meson resonances in an ultraviolet-complete composite-Higgs model

We consider a vector-like gauge theory of fermions that confines at the multi-TeV scale, and that realizes the Higgs particle as a composite Goldstone boson. The weak interactions are embedded in the unbroken subgroup $Sp(4)$ of a spontaneously broken $SU(4)$ flavour group. The meson resonances appear as poles in the two-point correlators of fermion bilinears, and include the Goldstone bosons plus a massive pseudoscalar $\eta'$, as well as scalars, vectors and axial vectors. We compute the mass spectrum of these mesons, as well as their decay constants, in the chiral limit, in the approximation where the hypercolour $Sp(2N)$ dynamics is described by four-fermion operators, \`a la Nambu-Jona Lasinio. By resumming the leading diagrams in the $1/N$ expansion, we find that the spin-one states lie beyond the LHC reach, while spin-zero electroweak-singlet states may be as light as the Goldstone-boson decay constant, $f\sim 1$ TeV. We also confront our results with a set of available spectral sum rules. In order to supply composite top-quark partners, the theory contains additional fermions carrying both hypercolour and ordinary colour, with an associated flavour symmetry-breaking pattern $SU(6)/SO(6)$. We identify and analyse several non-trivial features of the complete two-sector gauge theory: the 't~Hooft anomaly matching conditions; the higher-dimension operator which incorporates the effects of the hypercolour axial-singlet anomaly; the coupled mass-gap equations; the mixing between the singlet mesons of the two sectors, resulting in an extra Goldstone boson $\eta_0$, and novel spectral sum rules. Assuming that the strength of the four-fermion interaction is the same in the two sectors, we find that the coloured vector and scalar mesons have masses $\gtrsim 4 f$, while the masses of coloured pseudo-Goldstone bosons, induced by gluon loops, are $\gtrsim 1.5f$.Comment: v1: 65 pages, 25 figures. v2: 70 pages, 29 figures; several references and clarifications included; two additional subsections on the S-parameter and on the spectral sum rules for mixed meson

Revisiting No-Scale Supergravity Inspired Scenarios

We consider no-scale supergravity inspired scenarios, emphasizing the possible dynamical determination of the soft supersymmetry-breaking parameters as triggered by the radiative corrections that lift an essentially flat tree-level potential in the hidden sector. We (re)emphasize the important role played by the scale-dependent vacuum energy contribution to the effective potential for the occurrence of consistent no-scale minima. The most relevant input parameters are introduced as $B_0$ (the soft breaking mixing Higgs parameter) and $\eta_0$ (the cosmological constant value at high energy) instead of \mhalf and $\tan \beta$, the latter being determined through a (generalized) potential minimization at electroweak scales. We examine the theoretical and phenomenological viability of such a mechanism when confronted with up-to-date calculations of the low energy sparticle spectrum and with present constraints from the LHC and other observables. The tight dark matter relic density constraint for a neutralino LSP scenario can be considerably relaxed for a gravitino LSP scenario possible in this framework.Comment: Proceedings of the 2011 Europhysics Conference on High Energy Physics, EPS-HEP 2011, July 21-27, 2011 Grenoble, Rh\^one-Alpes, Franc

Updating the Phase Diagram of the Gross-Neveu Model in 2+1 Dimensions

The method of optimized perturbation theory (OPT) is used to study the phase diagram of the massless Gross-Neveu model in 2+1 dimensions. In the temperature and chemical potential plane, our results give strong support to the existence of a tricritical point and line of first order phase transition, previously only suspected to exist from extensive lattice Monte Carlo simulations. In addition of presenting these results we discuss how the OPT can be implemented in conjunction with the Landau expansion in order to determine all the relevant critical quantities.Comment: 7 pages, 2 eps figures. Replaced with the version that matches the published one (PLB

Renormalization group improved pressure for hot and dense quark matter

We apply the renormalization group optimized perturbation theory (RGOPT) to evaluate the quark contribution to the QCD pressure at finite temperatures and baryonic densities, at next-to-leading order (NLO). Our results are compared to NLO and state-of-the-art higher orders of standard perturbative QCD (pQCD) and hard thermal loop perturbation theory (HTLpt). The RGOPT resummation provides a nonperturbative approximation, exhibiting a drastically better remnant renormalization scale dependence than pQCD, thanks to built-in renormalization group invariance consistency. At NLO, upon simply adding to the RGOPT-resummed quark contributions the purely perturbative NLO glue contribution, our results show a remarkable agreement with ab initio lattice simulation data for temperatures $0.25 \lesssim T \lesssim 1 \, {\rm GeV}$, with a remnant scale dependence drastically reduced as compared to HTLpt.Comment: 24 pages, 17 figures. v2: some clarifications + 2 figures + references added. To appear in Phys. Rev.

Vector-like contributions from Optimized Perturbation in the Abelian Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model for cold and dense quark matter

Two-loop corrections for the standard Abelian Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model are obtained with the Optimized Perturbation Theory (OPT) method. These contributions improve the usual mean-field and Hartree-Fock results by generating a $1/N_c$ suppressed term, which only contributes at finite chemical potential. We take the zero temperature limit observing that, within the OPT, chiral symmetry is restored at a higher chemical potential $\mu$, while the resulting equation of state is stiffer than the one obtained when mean-field is applied to the standard version of the model. In order to understand the physical nature of these finite $N_c$ contributions, we perform a numerical analysis to show that the OPT quantum corrections mimic effective repulsive vector-vector interaction contributions. We also derive a simple analytical approximation for the mass gap, accurate at the percent level, matching the mean-field approximation extended by an extra vector channel to OPT. For $\mu \gtrsim \mu_c$ the effective vector coupling matching OPT is numerically close (for the Abelian model) to the Fierz-induced Hartree-Fock value $G/(2N_c)$, where $G$ is the scalar coupling, and then increases with $\mu$ in a well-determined manner.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures. In press Int. J. Mod. Phys. E (2012

Thermodynamics and Phase Structure of the Two-Flavor Nambu--Jona-Lasinio Model Beyond Large-N_c

The optimized perturbation theory (OPT) method is applied to the $SU(2)$ version of the Nambu--Jona-Lasinio (NJL) model both at zero and at finite temperature and/or density. At the first nontrivial order the OPT exhibits a class of 1/N_c corrections which produce nonperturbative results that go beyond the standard large-N_c, or mean-field approximation. The consistency of the OPT method with the Goldstone theorem at this order is established, and appropriate OPT values of the basic NJL (vacuum) parameters are obtained by matching the pion mass and decay constant consistently. Deviations from standard large-N_c relations induced by OPT at this order are derived, for example, for the Gell--Mann-Oakes-Renner relation. Next, the results for the critical quantities and the phase diagram of the model, as well as a number of other thermodynamical quantities of interest, are obtained with OPT and then contrasted with the corresponding results at large N_c.Comment: 29 pages, 20 figures, revtex. Minor corrections. In press Phys. Rev.

Exact 1/N and Optimized Perturbative Evaluation of mu_c for Homogeneous Interacting Bose Gases

In the framework of the O(N) three-dimensional effective scalar field model for homogeneous dilute weakly interacting Bose gases we use the 1/N expansion to evaluate, within the large N limit, the parameter r_c which is directly related to the critical chemical potential mu_c. This quantity enters the order-a^2 n^{2/3} coefficient contributing to the critical temperature shift Delta T_c where a represents the s-wave scattering length and n represents the density. Compared to the recent precise numerical lattice simulation results, our calculation suggests that the large N approximation performs rather well even for the physical case N=2. We then calculate the same quantity but using different forms of the optimized perturbative (variational) method, showing that these produce excellent results both for the finite N and large-N cases.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures. We have performed a refined and extended numerical analysis to take into account the very recent results of Ref. [15