Thermal Photons and Lepton Pairs from Quark Gluon Plasma and Hot Hadronic Matter

The formulation of the real and virtual photon production rate from strongly interacting matter is presented in the framework of finite temperature field theory. The changes in the hadronic spectral function induced by temperature are discussed within the ambit of the Walecka type model, gauged linear and non-linear sigma models, hidden local symmetry approach and QCD sum rule approach. Possibility of observing the direct thermal photon and lepton pair from quark gluon plasma has been contrasted with those from hot hadronic matter with and without medium effects for various mass variation scenarios. At SPS energies, in-medium effects of different magnitude on the hadronic properties for the Walecka model, Brown-Rho scaling and Nambu scaling scenarios are conspicuously visible through the low invariant mass distribution of dilepton and transverse momentum spectra of photon. However, at RHIC energies the thermal photon (dilepton) spectra originating from Quark Gluon Plasma overshines those from hadronic matter for large transverse momentum (invariant mass) irrespective of the models used for evaluating the finite temperature effects on the hadronic properties. It is thus expected that both at RHIC and LHC energies the formation of Quark Gluon Plasma in the initial stages may indeed turn out to be a realistic scenario.Comment: Text revised, 3 figures adde

Photons from Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions at Ultra-Relativistic Energies

We compare the photon emission rates from hot hadronic matter with in-medium mass shift and Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP). It is observed that the WA98 data can be well reproduced by hadronic initial state with initial temperature $\sim 200$ MeV if the universal scaling of temperature dependent hadronic masses are assumed and the evolution of temperature with time is taken from transport model or (3+1) dimensional hydrodynamics. The data can also be reproduced by QGP initial state with similar initial temperature and non-zero initial radial velocity.Comment: Talk given in the International Nuclear Physics Conference, at the University of California, Berkeley, USA, during July 30 - August 3, 200

Lepton interferometry in relativistic heavy ion collisions - a case study

We propose intensity interferometry with identical lepton pairs as an efficient tool for the estimation of the source size of the expanding hot zone produced in relativistic heavy ion collisions. This can act as a complementary method to two photon interferometry. The correlation function of two electrons with the same helicity has been evaluated for RHIC energies. The thermal shift of the rho meson mass has negligible effects on the HBT radii.Comment: 5 pages and 2 figure

Omega meson as a chronometer and thermometer in hot-dense hadronic matter

Changes in the properties of the vector mesons in hot and dense hadronic matter, as produced in heavy ion collisions, lead to the intriguing possibility of the opening of the decay channel \omega \ra \rho \pi, for the omega meson, which is impossible in free space. This along with the channel \omega \pi \ra \pi \pi would result in a decrease in its effective life-time enabling it to decay within the hot zone and act as a chronometer in contradiction to the commonly held opinion and would have implications vis a vis determination of the size of the region through pion interferometry. A new peak and a radically altered shape of the low invariant mass dilepton spectra appears due to different shift in the masses of $\rho$ and $\omega$ mesons. The Walecka model is used for the underlying calculation for the sake of illustration.Comment: To appear in Phys. ReV.

Photons from Pb-Pb Collisions at CERN SPS

High energy photon emission rate from matter created in Pb + Pb collisions at CERN SPS energies is evaluated. The evolution of matter from the initial state up to freeze-out has been treated within the framework of (3+1) dimensional hydrodynamic expansion. We observe that the photon spectra measured by the WA98 experiment are well reproduced with hard QCD photons and photons from a thermal source with initial temperature ~ 200 MeV. The effects of the spectral changes of hadrons with temperature on the photon emission rate and on the equation of state are studied. Photon yield for Au + Au collisions at RHIC energies is also estimated.Comment: To appear in Phys. Rev. C (Rapid Communications

Unstable particles in matter at a finite temperature: the rho and omega mesons

Unstable particles (such as the vector mesons) have an important role to play in low mass dilepton production resulting from heavy ion collisions and this has been a subject of several investigations. Yet subtleties, such as the implications of the generalization of the Breit-Wigner formula for nonzero temperature and density, e.g. the question of collisional broadening, the role of Bose enhancement, etc., the possibility of the kinematic opening (or closing) of decay channels due to environmental effects, the problem of double counting through resonant and direct contributions, are often given insufficient emphasis. The present study attempts to point out these features using the rho and omega mesons as illustrative examples. The difference between the two versions of the Vector Meson Dominance Model in the present context is also presented. Effects of non-zero temperature and density, through vector meson masses and decay widths, on dilepton spectra are studied, for concreteness within the framework of a Walecka-type model, though most of the basic issues highlighted apply to other scenarios as well.Comment: text and figures modifie

Can nature-based solutions contribute to water security in Bhopal?

Bhojtal, a large man-made lake bordering the city of Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh state, central India), is important for the city’s water supply, connoted the lifeline of the city. Despite the dry though not arid and markedly seasonal climate, soil impermeability hampers infiltration into the complex geology underlying the Bhojtal catchment. Rural communities in the catchment are nonetheless high dependent on underlying aquifers. This paper develops baseline understanding of trends in the ecology, water quality and uses of Bhojtal, discussing their implications for the long-term wellbeing of the Bhopal city region. It highlights increasing dependency on water diverted from out-of-catchment sources, and also abstraction across the Bhojtal catchment in excess of replenishment that is depressing groundwater and contributing to reported declining lake level and water quality. Despite some nature-based management initiatives, evidence suggests little progress in haltering on-going groundwater depression and declines in lake water level and quality. Significant declines in ecosystem services produced by Bhojtal are likely without intervention, a major concern given the high dependency of people in the Bhopal region on Bhojtal for their water supply and socio-economic and cultural wellbeing. Over-reliance on appropriation of water from increasingly remote sources is currently compensating for lack of attention to measures protecting or regenerating local resources that may provide greater resilience and regional self-sufficiency. Improved knowledge of catchment hydrogeology on a highly localised scale could improve the targeting and efficiency of water harvesting and other management interventions in the Bhojtal catchment, and their appropriate hybridisation with engineered solutions, protecting the catchment from unintended impacts of water extraction or increasing its carrying capacity, and also providing resilience to rising population and climate change. Ecosystem service assessment provides useful insights into the breadth of benefits of improved management of Bhojtal and its catchment

Non-relativistic metrics from back-reacting fermions

It has recently been pointed out that under certain circumstances the back-reaction of charged, massive Dirac fermions causes important modifications to AdS_2 spacetimes arising as the near horizon geometry of extremal black holes. In a WKB approximation, the modified geometry becomes a non-relativistic Lifshitz spacetime. In three dimensions, it is known that integrating out charged, massive fermions gives rise to gravitational and Maxwell Chern-Simons terms. We show that Schrodinger (warped AdS_3) spacetimes exist as solutions to a gravitational and Maxwell Chern-Simons theory with a cosmological constant. Motivated by this, we look for warped AdS_3 or Schrodinger metrics as exact solutions to a fully back-reacted theory containing Dirac fermions in three and four dimensions. We work out the dynamical exponent in terms of the fermion mass and generalize this result to arbitrary dimensions.Comment: 26 pages, v2: typos corrected, references added, minor change

Soft Electromagnetic Radiations from Relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions

The production of low mass dileptons and soft photons from thermalized Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP) and hadronic matter in relativistic heavy ion collisions is evaluated. A boost invariant longitudinal and cylindrically symmetric transverse expansion of the systems created in central collision of lead nuclei at CERN SPS, BNL RHIC, and CERN LHC, and undergoing a first order phase transition to hadronic matter is considered. A large production of low mass (M< 0.3 GeV) dileptons, and soft photons (p_T< 0.4 GeV) is seen to emanate from the bremsstrahlung of quarks and pions. We find an increase by a factor of 2--4 in the low mass dilepton and soft photon yield as we move from SPS to RHIC energies, and an increase by an order of magnitude as we move from SPS to LHC energies. Most of the soft radiations are found to originate from pion driven processes at SPS and RHIC energies, while at the LHC energies the quark and the pion driven processes contribute by a similar amount. The study of the transverse mass distribution is seen to provide interesting details of the evolution. We also find a unique universal behaviour for the ratio of M^2 weighted transverse mass distribution for M= 0.1 GeV to that for M= 0.2 and 0.3 GeV, as a function of M_T, for SPS, RHIC, and LHC energies, in the absence of transverse expansion of the system. A deviation from this universal behaviour is seen as a clear indication of the flow.Comment: Revtex fil