Precision compliance techniques for slow crack growth measurements

A method is presented for using simple electronic components to obtain the high sensitivity needed to measure very slow crack growth rates. The technique presented can reduce the experimental time considerably and also yield a greater amount of data more accurately than optical techniques for measuring crack growth rates

Thermalization through Hagedorn states - the importance of multiparticle collisions

Quick chemical equilibration times of hadrons within a hadron gas are explained dynamically using Hagedorn states, which drive particles into equilibrium close to the critical temperature. Within this scheme master equations are employed for the chemical equilibration of various hadronic particles like (strange) baryon and antibaryons. A comparison of the Hagedorn model to recent lattice results is made and it is found that for both Tc =176 MeV and Tc=196 MeV, the hadrons can reach chemical equilibrium almost immediately, well before the chemical freeze-out temperatures found in thermal fits for a hadron gas without Hagedorn states.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, talk presented at the International Conference on Strangeness in Quark Matter, Buzios, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sept. 27 - Oct. 2, 200

Chemical Equilibration and Transport Properties of Hadronic Matter near TcT_c

We discuss how the inclusion of Hagedorn states near $T_c$ leads to short chemical equilibration times of proton anti-proton pairs, $K\bar{K}$ pairs, and $\Lambda\bar{\Lambda}$ pairs, which indicates that hadrons do not need to be "born" into chemical equilibrium in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions. We show that the hadron ratios computed within our model match the experimental results at RHIC very well. Furthermore, estimates for $\eta/s$ near $T_c$ computed within our resonance gas model are comparable to the string theory viscosity bound $\eta/s=1/4\pi$. Our model provides a good description of the recent lattice results for the trace anomaly close to $T_c=196$ MeV.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, to appear in the conference proceedings for Quark Matter 2009, March 30 - April 4, Knoxville, Tennesse

Particle Ratios as a Probe of the QCD Critical Temperature

We show how the measured particle ratios can be used to provide non-trivial information about the critical temperature of the QCD phase transition. This is obtained by including the effects of highly massive Hagedorn resonances on statistical models, which are used to describe hadronic yields. The inclusion of Hagedorn states creates a dependence of the thermal fits on the Hagedorn temperature, $T_H$, which is assumed to be equal to $T_c$, and leads to an overall improvement of thermal fits. We find that for Au+Au collisions at RHIC at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV the best square fit measure, $\chi^2$, occurs at $T_c \sim 176$ MeV and produces a chemical freeze-out temperature of 172.6 MeV and a baryon chemical potential of 39.7 MeV.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Particle Ratios and the QCD Critical Temperature

We show how the measured particle ratios at RHIC can be used to provide non-trivial information about the critical temperature of the QCD phase transition. This is obtained by including the effects of highly massive Hagedorn resonances on statistical models, which are used to describe hadronic yields. Hagedorn states are relevant close to $T_c$ and have been shown to decrease $\eta/s$ to the KSS limit and allow for quick chemical equilibrium times in dynamical calculations of hadrons. The inclusion of Hagedorn states creates a dependence of the thermal fits on the Hagedorn temperature, $T_H$, which is assumed to be equal to $T_c$, and leads to an overall improvement of thermal fits. We find that for Au+Au collisions at RHIC at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV the best square fit measure, $\chi^2$, occurs at $T_c \sim 176$ MeV and produces a chemical freeze-out temperature of 170.4 MeV and a baryon chemical potential of 27.8 MeV.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, talk presented at the International Conference on Strangeness in Quark Matter, Buzios, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sept. 27 - oct. 2, 200