Kinetic Equation for Gluons in the Background Gauge of QCD

We derive the quantum kinetic equation for a pure gluon plasma, applying the background field and closed-time-path method. The derivation is more general and transparent than earlier works. A term in the equation is found which, as in the classical case, corresponds to the color charge precession for partons moving in the gauge field.Comment: RevTex 4, 4 pages, no figure, PRL accepted versio

Communication breakdown: Limits of spectro-temporal resolution for the perception of bat communication calls

During vocal communication, the spectro‑temporal structure of vocalizations conveys important contextual information. Bats excel in the use of sounds for echolocation by meticulous encoding of signals in the temporal domain. We therefore hypothesized that for social communication as well, bats would excel at detecting minute distortions in the spectro‑temporal structure of calls. To test this hypothesis, we systematically introduced spectro‑temporal distortion to communication calls of Phyllostomus discolor bats. We broke down each call into windows of the same length and randomized the phase spectrum inside each window. The overall degree of spectro‑temporal distortion in communication calls increased with window length. Modelling the bat auditory periphery revealed that cochlear mechanisms allow discrimination of fast spectro‑temporal envelopes. We evaluated model predictions with experimental psychophysical and neurophysiological data. We first assessed bats’ performance in discriminating original versions of calls from increasingly distorted versions of the same calls. We further examined cortical responses to determine additional specializations for call discrimination at the cortical level. Psychophysical and cortical responses concurred with model predictions, revealing discrimination thresholds in the range of 8–15 ms randomization‑window length. Our data suggest that specialized cortical areas are not necessary to impart psychophysical resilience to temporal distortion in communication calls

From the ISR to RHIC--measurements of hard-scattering and jets using inclusive single particle production and 2-particle correlations

Hard scattering in p-p collisions, discovered at the CERN ISR in 1972 by the method of leading particles, proved that the partons of Deeply Inelastic Scattering strongly interacted with each other. Further ISR measurements utilizing inclusive single or pairs of hadrons established that high pT particles are produced from states with two roughly back-to-back jets which are the result of scattering of constituents of the nucleons as desribed by Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), which was developed during the course of these measurements. These techniques, which are the only practical method to study hard-scattering and jet phenomena in Au+Au central collisions at RHIC energies, are reviewed, as an introduction to present RHIC measurements.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of the workshop on Correlations and Fluctuations in Relativistic Nuclear Collisions, MIT, Cambridge, MA, April 21-23, 2005, 10 pages, 9 figures, Journal of Physics: Conference Proceeding

Compositional Verification and Optimization of Interactive Markov Chains

Interactive Markov chains (IMC) are compositional behavioural models extending labelled transition systems and continuous-time Markov chains. We provide a framework and algorithms for compositional verification and optimization of IMC with respect to time-bounded properties. Firstly, we give a specification formalism for IMC. Secondly, given a time-bounded property, an IMC component and the assumption that its unknown environment satisfies a given specification, we synthesize a scheduler for the component optimizing the probability that the property is satisfied in any such environment

Radiative Energy Loss of High Energy Partons Traversing an Expanding QCD Plasma

We study analytically the medium-induced energy loss of a high energy parton passing through a finite size QCD plasma, which is expanding longitudinally according to Bjorken's model. We extend the BDMPS formalism already applied to static media to the case of a quark which hits successive layers of matter of decreasing temperature, and we show that the resulting radiative energy loss can be as large as 6 times the corresponding one in a static plasma at the reference temperature $T = T (L)$, which is reached after the quark propagates a distance $L$.Comment: 19 pages, REVTEX. 1 figur

Initial State: Theory Status

I present a brief discussion of the different approaches to the study initial state effects in heavy ion collisions in view of the recent results from Pb+Pb and p+p collisions at the LHC.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures. Contribution to the proceedings of the XXII International Conference on Ultrarelativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions, QM2011. Annecy, France, 22-28 May 201

Kinetic equation for gluons at the early stage

We derive the kinetic equation for pure gluon QCD plasma in a general way, applying the background field method. We show that the quantum kinetic equation contains a term as in the classical case, that describes a color charge precession of partons moving in the gauge field. We emphasize that this new term is necessary for the gauge covariance of the resulting equation.Comment: 6 pages, no figure, to appear in the proceedings of the 6th international conference on strange quarks in matter, Frankfurt, Germany, 25-29 september 200

Influence of the LPM effect and dielectric suppression on particle air showers

An analysis of the influence of the Landau-Migdal-Pomeranchuk (LPM) effect on the development of air showers initiated by astroparticles is presented. The theory of Migdal is studied and compared with other theoretical methods, particularly the Blankenbecler and Drell approach. By means of realistic computer simulations and using algorithms that emulate Migdal's theory, including also the so-called dielectric suppression, we study the behavior of the relevant observables in the case of ultra-high energy primaries. We find that the LPM effect can significantly modify the development of high energy electromagnetic showers in certain cases.Comment: 18 pages, 13 figures, 1 table. To appear in Phys. Rev.

Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdal effect in thermal field theory

In recent studies, the production rate of photons or lepton pairs by a quark gluon plasma has been found to be enhanced due to collinear singularities. This enhancement pattern is very dependent on rather strict collinearity conditions between the photon and the quark momenta. It was estimated by neglecting the collisional width of quasi-particles. In this paper, we study the modifications of this collinear enhancement when we take into account the possibility for the quarks to have a finite mean free path. Assuming a mean free path of order $(g^2T\ln(1/g))^{-1}$, we find that only low invariant mass photons are affected. The region where collision effects are important can be interpreted as the region where the Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdal effect plays a role in thermal photon production by bremsstrahlung. It is found that this effect modifies the spectrum of very energetic photons as well. Based on these results and on a previous work on infrared singularities, we end this paper by a reasonable physical picture for photon production by a quark gluon plasma, that should be useful to set directions for future technical developments.Comment: 28 pages Latex document, 9 postscript figures, typos corrected, semantics cleanup, final version to appear in Phys. Rev.