Eigenvalue distribution of the Dirac operator at finite temperature with (2+1)-flavor dynamical quarks using the HISQ action

We report on the behavior of the eigenvalue distribution of the Dirac operator in (2+1)-flavor QCD at finite temperature, using the HISQ action. We calculate the eigenvalue density at several values of the temperature close to the pseudocritical temperature. For this study we use gauge field configurations generated on lattices of size $32^3 \times 8$ with two light quark masses corresponding to pion masses of about 160 and 115 MeV. We find that the eigenvalue density below $T_c$ receives large contributions from near-zero modes which become smaller as the temperature increases or the light quark mass decreases. Moreover we find no clear evidence for a gap in the eigenvalue density up to 1.1$T_c$. We also analyze the eigenvalue density near $T_c$ where it appears to show a power-law behavior consistent with what is expected in the critical region near the second order chiral symmetry restoring phase transition in the massless limit.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, talk presented at the XXIX International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, July 10-16 2011, Squaw Valley, Lake Tahoe, California, US

QCD matter within a quasi-particle model and the critical end point

We compare our quasi-particle model with recent lattice QCD results for the equation of state at finite temperature and baryo-chemical potential. The inclusion of the QCD critical end point into models is discussed. We propose a family of equations of state to be employed in hydrodynamical calculations of particle spectra at RHIC energies and compare with the differential azimuthal anisotropy of strange and charm hadrons.Comment: talk at Quark Matter 2005, August 4 - 9, 2005, Budapest, Hungar

The Gluon Propagator at High Temperature: Screening, Improvement and Non-Zero Momenta

We study the gluon propagator and the singlet potential in Landau gauge in the deconfined phase of SU(2) lattice gauge theory, using both the standard Wilson action and a tree-level Symanzik improved action. From the long-distance behavior of correlation functions of temporal and spatial components of the gauge fields we extract electric (m_e) and magnetic (m_m) screening masses. For the magnetic mass we find m_m(T) = 0.456(6) g^2(T) T. The electric mass can be described by a next-to leading order ansatz, obtained from one loop resummed perturbation theory. However, the best description is given by m_e(T) = lowest order perturbative prediction even for temperatures as high as T \sim 10^4 T_c

Equation of State and Collective Dynamics

This talk summarizes the present status of a program to quantitatively relate data from the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) on collective expansion flow to the Equation of State (EOS) of hot and dense strongly interacting matter, including the quark-gluon plasma and the quark-hadron phase transition. The limits reached with the present state of the art and the next steps required to make further progress will both be discussed.Comment: 8 pages, 6 two-part figures. Invited talk given at the 5th International Conference on the Physics and Astrophysics of Quark-Gluon Plasma (ICPAQGP 2005), Kolkata (India), Feb 8-12, 2005. Proceedings to be published in Journal of Physics: Conference Series (Jan-E Alam et al., eds.

A Family of Equations of State Based on Lattice QCD: Impact on Flow in Ultrarelativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions

We construct a family of equations of state within a quasiparticle model by relating pressure, energy density, baryon density and susceptibilities adjusted to first-principles lattice QCD calculations. The relation between pressure and energy density from lattice QCD is surprisingly insensitive to details of the simulations. Effects from different lattice actions, quark masses and lattice spacings used in the simulations show up mostly in the quark-hadron phase transition region which we bridge over by a set of interpolations to a hadron resonance gas equation of state. Within our optimized quasiparticle model we then examine the equation of state along isentropic expansion trajectories at small net baryon densities, as relevant for experiments and hydrodynamic simulations at RHIC and LHC energies. We illustrate its impact on azimuthal flow anisotropies and transverse momentum spectra of various hadron species

Critical exponents of a three dimensional O(4) spin model

By Monte Carlo simulation we study the critical exponents governing the transition of the three-dimensional classical O(4) Heisenberg model, which is considered to be in the same universality class as the finite-temperature QCD with massless two flavors. We use the single cluster algorithm and the histogram reweighting technique to obtain observables at the critical temperature. After estimating an accurate value of the inverse critical temperature \Kc=0.9360(1), we make non-perturbative estimates for various critical exponents by finite-size scaling analysis. They are in excellent agreement with those obtained with the $4-\epsilon$ expansion method with errors reduced to about halves of them.Comment: 25 pages with 8 PS figures, LaTeX, UTHEP-28

From SPS to RHIC: Maurice and the CERN heavy-ion programme

Maurice Jacob played a key role in bringing together different groups from the experimental and theoretical nuclear and particle physics communities to initiate an ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collision program at the CERN SPS, in order to search for the quark-gluon plasma. I review the history of this program from its beginnings to the time when the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) started operation. I close by providing a glimpse of the important discoveries made at RHIC and giving an outlook towards heavy-ion collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). During Maurice's life and not least through his perpetually strong influence, relativistic heavy-ion physics has matured and led to discoveries that radiate into many other fields of physics. Heavy-ion physicists owe a great deal to Maurice Jacob.Comment: 12 pages, including 2 Figs. Invited talk given at the "Maurice Jacob Memorial Meeting", CERN, 11 September 2007. To appear in a special issue of Comments on Nuclear and Particle Physics which is published as a Section of Physica Script

Quarkonium Suppression

I discuss quarkonium suppression in equilibriated strongly interacting matter. After a brief review of basic features of quarkonium production I discuss the application of recent lattice data on the heavy quark potential to the problem of quarkonium dissociation as well as the problem of direct lattice determination of quarkonium properties in finite temperature lattice QCD.Comment: Invited plenary talk presented on 4th International Conference on Physics and Astrophysics of Quark Gluon Plasma (ICPAQGP-2001), November 26-30, 2001, Jaipur; 12 pp, LaTeX, uses pramana.st