396 research outputs found
The impact of QCD plasma instabilities on bottom-up thermalization
QCD plasma instabilities, caused by an anisotropic momentum distributions of
the particles in the plasma, are likely to play an important role in
thermalization in heavy ion collisions. We consider plasmas with two different
components of particles, one strongly anisotropic and one isotropic or nearly
isotropic. The isotropic component does not eliminate instabilities but it
decreases their growth rates. We investigate the impact of plasma instabilities
on the first stage of the ``bottom-up'' thermalization scenario in which such a
two-component plasma emerges, and find that even in the case of non-abelian
saturation instabilities qualitatively change the bottom-up picture.Comment: 12 pages, latex, one typo corrected, several minor changes in the
abstract and the text, to appear in JHE
Primordial Entropy Production and Lambda-driven Inflation from Quantum Einstein Gravity
We review recent work on renormalization group (RG) improved cosmologies
based upon a RG trajectory of Quantum Einstein Gravity (QEG) with realistic
parameter values. In particular we argue that QEG effects can account for the
entire entropy of the present Universe in the massless sector and give rise to
a phase of inflationary expansion. This phase is a pure quantum effect and
requires no classical inflaton field.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, IGCG-07 Pun
S-particles at their naturalness limits
We draw attention on a particular configuration of supersymmetric particle
masses, motivated by naturalness and flavour considerations. All its relevant
phenomenological properties for the LHC are described in terms of a few
physical parameters, irrespective of the underlying theoretical model. This
allows a simple characterization of its main features, useful to define a
strategy for its discovery.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, added reference
Are solar neutrino oscillations robust?
The robustness of the large mixing angle (LMA) oscillation (OSC)
interpretation of the solar neutrino data is considered in a more general
framework where non-standard neutrino interactions (NSI) are present. Such
interactions may be regarded as a generic feature of models of neutrino mass.
The 766.3 ton-yr data sample of the KamLAND collaboration are included in the
analysis, paying attention to the background from the reaction ^13C(\alpha,n)
^16O. Similarly, the latest solar neutrino fluxes from the SNO collaboration
are included. In addition to the solution which holds in the absence of NSI
(LMA-I) there is a 'dark-side' solution (LMA-D) with sin^2 theta_Sol = 0.70,
essentially degenerate with the former, and another light-side solution (LMA-0)
allowed only at 97% CL. More precise KamLAND reactor measurements will not
resolve the ambiguity in the determination of the solar neutrino mixing angle
theta_Sol, as they are expected to constrain mainly Delta m^2. We comment on
the complementary role of atmospheric, laboratory (e.g. CHARM) and future solar
neutrino experiments in lifting the degeneracy between the LMA-I and LMA-D
solutions. In particular, we show how the LMA-D solution induced by the
simplest NSI between neutrinos and down-type-quarks-only is in conflict with
the combination of current atmospheric data and data of the CHARM experiment.
We also mention that establishing the issue of robustness of the oscillation
picture in the most general case will require further experiments, such as
those involving low energy solar neutrinos.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures; Final version to appear in JHE
Some non perturbative calculations on spin glasses
Models of spin glasses are studied with a phase transition discontinuous in
the Parisi order parameter. It is assumed that the leading order corrections to
the thermodynamic limit of the high temperature free energy are due to the
existence of a metastable saddle point in the replica formalism. An ansatz is
made on the form of the metastable point and its contribution to the free
energy is calculated. The Random Energy Model is considered along with the
p-spin and the p-state Potts Models in their p < infinity expansion.Comment: 12 pages, LaTe
Different Scenarios for Critical Glassy Dynamics
We study the role of different terms in the -body potential of glass
forming systems on the critical dynamics near the glass transition. Using a
simplified spin model with quenched disorder, where the different terms of the
real -body potential are mapped into multi-spin interactions, we identified
three possible scenarios. For each scenario we introduce a ``minimal'' model
representative of the critical glassy dynamics near, both above and below, the
critical transition lin e. For each ``minimal'' model we discuss the low
temperature equilibrium dynamics.Comment: Completely revised version, 8 pages, 5 figures, typeset using
EURO-LaTeX, Europhysics Letters (in press
Scale-dependent metric and causal structures in Quantum Einstein Gravity
Within the asymptotic safety scenario for gravity various conceptual issues
related to the scale dependence of the metric are analyzed. The running
effective field equations implied by the effective average action of Quantum
Einstein Gravity (QEG) and the resulting families of resolution dependent
metrics are discussed. The status of scale dependent vs. scale independent
diffeomorphisms is clarified, and the difference between isometries implemented
by scale dependent and independent Killing vectors is explained. A concept of
scale dependent causality is proposed and illustrated by various simple
examples. The possibility of assigning an "intrinsic length" to objects in a
QEG spacetime is also discussed.Comment: 52 page
Neutrons and antiprotons in ultrahigh energy cosmic rays
The neutron fraction in the very high energy cosmic rays near the
Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin (GZK) cutoff energy is analyzed by taking into account
the time dilation effect of the neutron decays and also the pion
photoproduction behaviors above the GZK cutoff. We predict a non-trivial
neutron fraction above the GZK cutoff and a negligibly small neutron fraction
below. However, there should be a large antiproton fraction in the high energy
cosmic rays below the GZK cutoff in several existing models for the observed
cosmic-ray events above and near the GZK cutoff. Such a large antiproton
fraction can manifest itself by the muon charge ratio in the
collisions of the primary nucleon cosmic rays with the atmosphere, if there is
no neutron contribution. We suggest to use the muon charge ratio as one of the
information to detect the composition of the primary cosmic rays near or below
the GZK cutoff.Comment: 5 LaTex page
Hydrodynamic obstruction to bubble expansion
We discuss a hydrodynamic obstruction to bubble wall acceleration during a
cosmological first-order phase transition. The obstruction results from the
heating of the plasma in the compression wave in front of the phase transition
boundary. We provide a simple criterion for the occurrence of the obstruction
at subsonic bubble wall velocity in terms of the critical temperature, the
phase transition temperature, and the latent heat of the model under
consideration. The criterion serves as a sufficient condition of subsonic
bubble wall velocities as required by electroweak baryogenesis.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures; comments and reference added, published versio
Gravitating defects of codimension-two
Thin gravitating defects with conical singularities in higher codimensions
and with generalized Israel matching conditions are known to be inconsistent
for generic energy-momentum. A way to remove this inconsistency is proposed and
is realized for an axially symmetric gravitating codimension-two defect in six
dimensional Einstein gravity. By varying with respect to the brane embedding
fields, alternative matching conditions are derived, which are generalizations
of the Nambu-Goto equations of motion of the defect, consistent with bulk
gravity. For a maximally symmetric defect the standard picture is recovered.
The four-dimensional perfect fluid cosmology coincides with conventional FRW in
the case of radiation, but for dust it has rho^{4/3} instead of rho. A
four-dimensional black hole solution is presented having the Schwarzschild form
with a short-distance correction r^{-2}.Comment: Minor changes, to appear in Classical and Quantum Gravit
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