Is the Polarized Antiquark Sea in the Nucleon Flavor Symmetric?

We show that the model which naturally explains the $\bar u \ne \bar d$ asymmetry in the nucleon and is in quantitative agreement with the Gottfried sum rule data, also predicts that in the proton $\Delta \bar u > 0 > \Delta \bar s > \Delta \bar d$ and $\Delta \bar u - \Delta \bar d > \bar d - \bar u > 0$. At the input scale, these results can be derived even analytically. Thus the violation of the flavor symmetry is more serious in the polarized case than in the unpolarized case. In contrast, many recent analyses of the polarized data have made a simplifying assumption that all the three $\Delta \bar q$'s have the same sign and magnitude. We point out the need to redo these analyses, allowing for the alternate scenario as described above. We present predictions of the model for the $W^-$ asymmetry in polarized $pp$ scattering, which can be tested at RHIC; these are quite different from those available in the literature.Comment: Talk given at the International Conference on Quark-Nuclear Physics (QNP2000), 21-25 Feb. 2000, CSSM, University of Adelaide, Australia. v2: refs added, discussion enlarged, conclusions unchanged. A short version has appeared in NP(A) proceedings. This (long) version is to appear in PR(C). Tables of polarized and unpolarized PDFs can be obtained by writing to the Autho

Relativistic heavy-ion collisions

The field of relativistic heavy-ion collisions is introduced to the high-energy physics students with no prior knowledge in this area. The emphasis is on the two most important observables, namely the azimuthal collective flow and jet quenching, and on the role fluid dynamics plays in the interpretation of the data. Other important observables described briefly are constituent quark number scaling, ratios of particle abundances, strangeness enhancement, and sequential melting of heavy quarkonia. Comparison is made of some of the basic heavy-ion results obtained at LHC with those obtained at RHIC. Initial findings at LHC which seem to be in apparent conflict with the accumulated RHIC data are highlighted.Comment: Updated version of the lectures given at the First Asia-Europe-Pacific School of High-Energy Physics, Fukuoka, Japan, 14-27 October 2012. Published as a CERN Yellow Report (CERN-2014-001) and KEK report (KEK-Proceedings-2013-8), K. Kawagoe and M. Mulders (eds.), 2014, p. 219. Total 21 page

Aspects of causal viscous hydrodynamics

We investigate the phenomenology of freely expanding fluids, with different material properties, evolving through the Israel-Stewart (IS) causal viscous hydrodynamics, and compare our results with those obtained in the relativistic Eckart-Landau-Navier-Stokes (ELNS) acausal viscous hydrodynamics. Through the analysis of scaling invariants we give a definition of thermalization time which can be self-consistently determined in viscous hydrodynamics. Next we construct the solutions for one-dimensional boost-invariant flows. Expansion of viscous fluids is slower than that of one-dimensional ideal fluids, resulting in entropy production. At late times, these flows are reasonably well approximated by solutions obtained in ELNS hydrodynamics. Estimates of initial energy densities from observed final values are strongly dependent on the dynamics one chooses. For the same material, and the same final state, IS hydrodynamics gives the smallest initial energy density. We also study fluctuations about these one-dimensional boost-invariant backgrounds; they are damped in ELNS hydrodynamics but can become sound waves in IS hydrodynamics. The difference is obvious in power spectra due to clear signals of wave-interference in IS hydrodynamics, which is completely absent in ELNS dynamics.Comment: 27 pages, 17 figures, references added, minor changes, version to appear in Phys. Rev. (C