Pions in the quark matter phase diagram

The relationship between mesonic correlations and quantum condensates in the quark matter phase diagram is explored within a quantum field theoretical approach of the Nambu and Jona-Lasinio (NJL) type. Mean-field values in the scalar meson and diquark channels are order parameters signalling the occurrence of quark condensates, entailing chiral symmetry breaking (chi SB) and color superconductivity (2SC) in quark matter. We investigate the spectral properties of scalar and pseudoscalar meson excitations in the phase diagram in Gaussian approximation and show that outside the chi SB region where the pion is a zero-width bound state, there are two regions where it can be considered as a quasi-bound state with a lifetime exceeding that of a typical heavy-ion collision fireball: (A) the high-temperature chi SB crossover region at low densities and (B) the high-density color superconducting phase at temperatures below 100 MeV.Comment: presented by D. Zablocki at the Joint Meeting Heidelberg-Liege-Paris-Wroclaw (HLPW08), Spa, Belgium, 6-8 March 2008, 10 pages, 5 figures, LaTeX, uses aip-6s.clo, aipproc.cls and aipxfm.sty (included

A comparative study of Gaussian Graphical Model approaches for genomic data

The inference of networks of dependencies by Gaussian Graphical models on high-throughput data is an open issue in modern molecular biology. In this paper we provide a comparative study of three methods to obtain small sample and high dimension estimates of partial correlation coefficients: the Moore-Penrose pseudoinverse (PINV), residual correlation (RCM) and covariance-regularized method $(\ell_{2C})$. We first compare them on simulated datasets and we find that PINV is less stable in terms of AUC performance when the number of variables changes. The two regularized methods have comparable performances but $\ell_{2C}$ is much faster than RCM. Finally, we present the results of an application of $\ell_{2C}$ for the inference of a gene network for isoprenoid biosynthesis pathways in Arabidopsis thaliana.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, RevTex4, version to appear in the proceedings of 1st International Workshop on Pattern Recognition, Proteomics, Structural Biology and Bioinformatics: PR PS BB 2011, Ravenna, Italy, 13 September 201

Inhomogeneous charged pion condensation phenomenon in the NJL2_2 model with quark number and isospin chemical potentials

The properties of two-flavored massive Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model in (1+1)-dimensional spacetime are investigated in the presence of isospin and quark number chemical potentials. The consideration is performed in the large-$N_c$ limit, where $N_c$ is the number of colored quarks. It is shown in the framework of this model that charged pion condensation phenomenon of dense quark/hadron isotopically asymmetric matter is rather a spatially inhomogeneous than a homogeneous one.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures; version accepted for publication in PRD. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1106.2928, arXiv:1102.407

Cooling of a Compact Star with a LOFF Matter Core

Specific heat and neutrino emissivity due to direct URCA processes for quark matter in the color superconductive Larkin-Ovchinnikov-Fulde-Ferrell (LOFF) phase of Quantum-Chromodynamics have been evaluated. The cooling rate of simplified models of compact stars with a LOFF matter core is estimated.Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure, to appear in the proceedings of the Helmoltz International Summer School of Theoretical Physics on Dense Matter in Heavy Ion Collisions and Astrophysics, JINR, Dubna, Russia, 21 Aug - 1 Sep 200

Superfluid and Pseudo-Goldstone Modes in Three Flavor Crystalline Color Superconductivity

We study the bosonic excitations in the favorite cubic three flavor crystalline LOFF phases of QCD. We calculate in the Ginzburg-Landau approximation the masses of the eight pseudo Nambu-Goldstone Bosons (NGB) present in the low energy theory. We also compute the decay constants of the massless NGB Goldstones associated to superfluidity as well as those of the eight pseudo NGB. Differently from the corresponding situation in the Color-Flavor-Locking phase, we find that meson condensation phases are not expected in the present scenario.Comment: 10 pages, RevTeX4 class. Section IIIA enlarged, to appear on Phys. Rev.

Caspase-independent programmed cell death triggers Ca2PO4 deposition in an in vitro model of nephrocalcinosis

We provide evidence of caspase-independent cell death triggering the calcification process in GDNF-silenced HK-2 cells

Chiral crossover, deconfinement and quarkyonic matter within a Nambu-Jona Lasinio model with the Polyakov loop

We study the interplay between the chiral and the deconfinement transitions, both at high temperature and high quark chemical potential, by a non local Nambu-Jona Lasinio model with the Polyakov loop in the mean field approximation and requiring neutrality of the ground state. We consider three forms of the effective potential of the Polyakov loop: two of them with a fixed deconfinement scale, cases I and II, and the third one with a $\mu$ dependent scale, case III. In the cases I and II, at high chemical potential $\mu$ and low temperature $T$ the main contribution to the free energy is due to the Z(3)-neutral three-quark states, mimicking the quarkyonic phase of the large $N_c$ phase diagram. On the other hand in the case III the quarkyonic window is shrunk to a small region. Finally we comment on the relations of these results to lattice studies and on possible common prospects. We also briefly comment on the coexistence of quarkyonic and color superconductive phases.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, RevTeX4. Some typos corrected, references adde

Neutrino emission from compact stars and inhomogeneous color superconductivity

We discuss specific heat and neutrino emissivity due to direct Urca processes for quark matter in the color superconductive Larkin-Ovchinnikov-Fulde-Ferrell (LOFF) phase of Quantum-Chromodynamics. We assume that the three light quarks $u, d, s$ are in a color and electrically neutral state and interact by a four fermion Nambu-Jona Lasinio coupling. We study a LOFF state characterized by a single plane wave for each pairing. From the evaluation of neutrino emissivity and fermionic specific heat, the cooling rate of simplified models of compact stars with a quark core in the LOFF state is estimated.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, revtex4 style. Version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.