536 research outputs found
Quark Recombination and Heavy Quark Diffusion in Hot Nuclear Matter
We discuss resonance recombination for quarks and show that it is compatible
with quark and hadron distributions in local thermal equilibrium. We then
calculate realistic heavy quark phase space distributions in heavy ion
collisions using Langevin simulations with non-perturbative T-matrix
interactions in hydrodynamic backgrounds. We hadronize the heavy quarks on the
critical hypersurface given by hydrodynamics after constructing a criterion for
the relative recombination and fragmentation contributions. We discuss the
influence of recombination and flow on the resulting heavy meson and single
electron R_AA and elliptic flow. We will also comment on the effect of
diffusion of open heavy flavor mesons in the hadronic phase.Comment: Contribution to Quark Matter 2011, submitted to J.Phys.G; 4 pages, 5
figure
Quarkonia and Heavy-Quark Relaxation Times in the Quark-Gluon Plasma
A thermodynamic T-matrix approach for elastic 2-body interactions is employed
to calculate spectral functions of open and hidden heavy-quark systems in the
Quark-Gluon Plasma. This enables the evaluation of quarkonium bound-state
properties and heavy-quark diffusion on a common basis and thus to obtain
mutual constraints. The two-body interaction kernel is approximated within a
potential picture for spacelike momentum transfers. An effective
field-theoretical model combining color-Coulomb and confining terms is
implemented with relativistic corrections and for different color channels.
Four pertinent model parameters, characterizing the coupling strengths and
screening, are adjusted to reproduce the color-average heavy-quark free energy
as computed in thermal lattice QCD. The approach is tested against vacuum
spectroscopy in the open (D, B) and hidden (Psi and Upsilon) flavor sectors, as
well as in the high-energy limit of elastic perturbative QCD scattering.
Theoretical uncertainties in the static reduction scheme of the 4-dimensional
Bethe-Salpeter equation are elucidated. The quarkonium spectral functions are
used to calculate Euclidean correlators which are discussed in light of lattice
QCD results, while heavy-quark relaxation rates and diffusion coefficients are
extracted utilizing a Fokker-Planck equation.Comment: 33 pages, 28 figure
Gapless Hartree-Fock Resummation Scheme for the O(N) Model
A modified selfconsistent Hartree-Fock approximation to the lambda*phi^4
theory with spontaneously broken O(N) symmetry is proposed. It preserves all
the desirable features, like conservation laws and thermodynamic consistency,
of the selfconsistent Dyson scheme generated from a 2PI functional, also known
as the Phi-derivable scheme, while simultaneously respecting the
Nambu-Goldstone theorem in the chiral-symmetry broken phase. Various
approximate resummation schemes are discussed.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures / Version accepted by Phys. Rev. D: the
introduction has been expanded by a few remarks in order to further clarify
the goal of the pape
Selfconsistent evaluation of charm and charmonium in the quark-gluon plasma
A selfconsistent calculation of heavy-quark (HQ) and quarkonium properties in
the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) is conducted to quantify flavor transport and
color screening in the medium. The main tool is a thermodynamic -matrix
approach to compute HQ and quarkonium spectral functions in both scattering and
bound-state regimes. The -matrix, in turn, is employed to calculate HQ
selfenergies which are implemented into spectral functions beyond the
quasiparticle approximation. Charmonium spectral functions are used to evaluate
eulcidean-time correlation functions which are compared to results from thermal
lattice QCD. The comparisons are performed in various hadronic channels
including zero-mode contributions consistently accounting for finite
charm-quark width effects. The zero modes are closely related to the
charm-quark number susceptibility which is also compared to existing lattice
"data". Both the susceptibility and the heavy-light quark -matrix are
applied to calculate the thermal charm-quark relaxation rate, or, equivalently,
the charm diffusion constant in the QGP. Implications of our findings in the HQ
sector for the viscosity-to-entropy-density ratio of the QGP are briefly
discussed.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, invited contribution to NJP Focus Issue
"Strongly Coupled Quantum Fluids: From Ultracold Quantum Gases to QCD
Plasmas
Do We Know What We Need? Preference for Feedback About Accurate Performances Does Not Benefit Sensorimotor Learning
Previous research on skill acquisition has shown that learners seem to prefer receiving knowledge of results (KR) about those trials in which they have performed more accurately. In the present study, we assessed whether this preference leads to an advantage in terms of skill acquisition, transfer, and retention of their capacity to extrapolate the motion of decelerating objects during periods of visual occlusion. Instead of questionnaires, we adopted a more direct approach to investigate learners' preferences for KR. Participants performed 90 trials of a motion extrapolation task (acquisition phase) in which, every three trials, they could decide between receiving KR about their best or worst performance. Retention and transfer tests were carried out 24 hr after the acquisition phase, without KR, to examine the effects of the self-selected KR on sensorimotor learning. Consistent with the current literature, a preference for receiving KR about the most accurate performance was observed. However, participants' preferences were not consistent throughout the experiment as less than 10% (N = 40) selected the same type of KR in all their choices. Importantly, although preferred by most participants, KR about accurate performances had detrimental effects on skill acquisition, suggesting that learners may not always choose the KR that will maximize their learning experiences and skill retention
Debye mass and heavy quark potential in a PNJL quark plasma
We calculate the Debye mass for the screening of the heavy quark potential in
a plasma of massless quarks coupled to the temporal gluon background governed
by the Polyakov loop potential within the PNJL model in RPA approximation. We
give a physical motivation for a recent phenomenological fit of lattice data by
applying the calculated Debye mass with its suppression in the confined phase
due to the Polyakov-loop to a description of the temperature dependence of the
singlet free energy for QCD with a heavy quark pair at infinite separation. We
compare the result to lattice data.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, contribution to Proceedings of the 6th
International Conference on "Critical Point and Onset of Deconfinement", to
appear in Phys. At. Nucl., vol. 7
Medium Effects in rho-Meson Photoproduction
We compute dilepton invariant mass spectra from the decays of rho mesons
produced by photon reactions off nuclei. Our calculations employ a realistic
model for the rho photoproduction amplitude on the nucleon which provides fair
agreement with measured cross sections. Medium effects are implemented via an
earlier constructed rho propagator based on hadronic many-body theory. At
incoming photon energies of 1.5 -3 GeV as used by the CLAS experiment at JLAB,
the average density probed for iron targets is estimated at about half
saturation density. At the pertinent rho-meson 3-momenta the predicted medium
effects on the rho propagator are rather moderate. The resulting dilepton
spectra approximately agree with recent CLAS data.Comment: One numerical error corrected, conclusions unchange
Visual attentional load influences plasticity in the human motor cortex
Neural plasticity plays a critical role in learning, memory, and recovery from injury to the nervous system. Although much is known about the physical and physiological determinants of plasticity, little is known about the influence of cognitive factors. In this study, we investigated whether selective attention plays a role in modifying changes in neural excitability reflecting long-term potentiation (LTP)like plasticity. We induced LTP-like effects in the hand area of the human motor cortex using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). During the induction of plasticity, participants engaged in a visual detection task with either low or high attentional demands. Changes in neural excitability were assessed by measuring motor-evoked potentials in a small hand muscle before and after the TMS procedures. In separate experiments plasticity was induced either by paired associative stimulation (PAS) or intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS). Because these procedures induce different forms of LTP-like effects, they allowed us to investigate the generality of any attentional influence on plasticity. In both experiments reliable changes in motor cortex excitability were evident under low-load conditions, but this effect was eliminated under high-attentional load. In a third experiment we investigated whether the attentional task was associated with ongoing changes in the excitability of motor cortex, but found no difference in evoked potentials across the levels of attentional load. Our findings indicate that in addition to their role in modifying sensory processing, mechanisms of attention can also be a potent modulator of cortical plasticity
Medium Modifications of Hadron Properties and Partonic Processes
Chiral symmetry is one of the most fundamental symmetries in QCD. It is
closely connected to hadron properties in the nuclear medium via the reduction
of the quark condensate , manifesting the partial restoration of
chiral symmetry. To better understand this important issue, a number of
Jefferson Lab experiments over the past decade have focused on understanding
properties of mesons and nucleons in the nuclear medium, often benefiting from
the high polarization and luminosity of the CEBAF accelerator. In particular, a
novel, accurate, polarization transfer measurement technique revealed for the
first time a strong indication that the bound proton electromagnetic form
factors in 4He may be modified compared to those in the vacuum. Second, the
photoproduction of vector mesons on various nuclei has been measured via their
decay to e+e- to study possible in-medium effects on the properties of the rho
meson. In this experiment, no significant mass shift and some broadening
consistent with expected collisional broadening for the rho meson has been
observed, providing tight constraints on model calculations. Finally, processes
involving in-medium parton propagation have been studied. The medium
modifications of the quark fragmentation functions have been extracted with
much higher statistical accuracy than previously possible.Comment: to appear in J. Phys.: Conf. Proc. "New Insights into the Structure
of Matter: The First Decade of Science at Jefferson Lab", eds. D.
Higinbotham, W. Melnitchouk, A. Thomas; added reference
In-medium hadronic spectral functions through the soft-wall holographic model of QCD
We study the scalar glueball and vector meson spectral functions in a hot and
dense medium by means of the soft-wall holographic model of QCD. Finite
temperature and density effects are implemented through the AdS/RN metric. We
analyse the behaviour of the hadron masses and widths in the plane,
and compare our results with the experimental ones and with other theoretical
determinations.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures. matching the published versio
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