Exactly Solvable Models: The Road Towards a Rigorous Treatment of Phase Transitions in Finite Systems

We discuss exact analytical solutions of a variety of statistical models recently obtained for finite systems by a novel powerful mathematical method, the Laplace-Fourier transform. Among them are a constrained version of the statistical multifragmentation model, the Gas of Bags Model and the Hills and Dales Model of surface partition. Thus, the Laplace-Fourier transform allows one to study the nuclear matter equation of state, the equation of state of hadronic and quark gluon matter and surface partitions on the same footing. A complete analysis of the isobaric partition singularities of these models is done for finite systems. The developed formalism allows us, for the first time, to exactly define the finite volume analogs of gaseous, liquid and mixed phases of these models from the first principles of statistical mechanics and demonstrate the pitfalls of earlier works. The found solutions may be used for building up a new theoretical apparatus to rigorously study phase transitions in finite systems. The strategic directions of future research opened by these exact results are also discussed.Comment: Contribution to the ``World Consensus Initiative III, Texas A & M University, College Station, Texas, USA, February 11-17, 2005, 21

Chemical Freeze-out of Strange Particles and Possible Root of Strangeness Suppression

Two approaches to treat the chemical freeze-out of strange particles in hadron resonance gas model are analyzed. The first one employs their non-equillibration via the usual \gamma_s factor and such a model describes the hadron multiplicities measured in nucleus-nucleus collisions at AGS, SPS and RHIC energies with \chi^2/dof = 1.15. Surprisingly, at low energies we find not the strangeness suppression, but its enhancement. Also we suggest an alternative approach to treat the strange particle freeze-out separately, but with the full chemical equilibration. This approach is based on the conservation laws which allow us to connect the freeze-outs of strange and non-strange hadrons. Within the suggested approach the same set of hadron multiplicities can be described better than within the conventional approach with \chi^2/dof = 1.06. Remarkably, the fully equilibrated approach describes the strange hyperons and antihyperons much better than the conventional one.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Prompt muon contribution to the flux underwater

We present high energy spectra and zenith-angle distributions of the atmospheric muons computed for the depths of the locations of the underwater neutrino telescopes. We compare the calculations with the data obtained in the Baikal and the AMANDA muon experiments. The prompt muon contribution to the muon flux underwater due to recent perturbative QCD-based models of the charm production is expected to be observable at depths of the large underwater neutrino telescopes. This appears to be probable even at rather shallow depths (1-2 km), provided that the energy threshold for muon detection is raised above $\sim 100$ TeV.Comment: 7 pages, RevTeX, 7 eps figures, final version to be published in Phys.Rev.D; a few changes made in the text and the figures, an approximation formula for muon spectra at the sea level, the muon zenith-angle distribution table data and references adde