First Principles Calculation of Elastic Properties of Solid Argon at High Pressures

The density and the elastic stiffness coefficients of fcc solid argon at high pressures from 1 GPa up to 80 GPa are computed by first-principles pseudopotential method with plane-wave basis set and the generalized gradient approximation (GGA). The result is in good agreement with the experimental result recently obtained with the Brillouin spectroscopy by Shimizu et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 4568 (2001)]. The Cauchy condition was found to be strongly violated as in the experimental result, indicating large contribution from non-central many-body force. The present result has made it clear that the standard density functional method with periodic boundary conditions can be successfully applied for calculating elastic properties of rare gas solids at high pressures in contrast to those at low pressures where dispersion forces are important.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, submitted to PR

Rethinking the QCD collisional energy loss

It is shown that to leading order the collisional energy loss of an energetic parton in the hot quark gluon plasma reads $dE/dx \sim \alpha(m_D^2)T^2$, where the scale of the coupling is determined by the (parametrically soft) Debye screening mass. Compared to previous expressions derived by Bjorken and other authors, $dE^B/dx \sim \alpha^2 T^2 \ln(ET/m_D^2)$, the rectified result takes into account the running of the coupling, as dictated by quantum corrections beyond tree level. As one significant consequence, due to asymptotic freedom, the QCD collisional energy loss becomes independent of the jet energy in the limit $E \gg T$. It is advocated that this resummation improved perturbative result might be useful to (re-)estimate the collisional energy loss for temperatures relevant in heavy ion phenomenology.Comment: contribution to "Hot Quarks 2006", Villasimius, Italy, 15-20 May 200

Objective classification of fabric pilling based on the two-dimensional discrete wavelet transform

A number of methods for automated objective ratings of fabric pilling based on image analysis are described in the literature. The periodic structure of fabrics makes them suitable candidates for frequency domain analysis. We propose a new method of frequency domain analysis based on the two-dimensional discrete wavelet transform to objectively measure pilling intensity in sample images. We present a preliminary evaluation of the proposed method based on analysis of two series of standard pilling evaluation test images. The initial results suggest that the proposed method is feasible, and that the ability of the method to discriminate between levels of pilling intensity depends on the wavelet analysis scale being closely matched to the fabric interyarn pitch. We also present a heuristic method for optimal selection of an analysis wavelet and associated analysis scale. <br /

High transverse momentum suppression and surface effects in Cu+Cu and Au+Au collisions within the PQM model

We study parton suppression effects in heavy-ion collisions within the Parton Quenching Model (PQM). After a brief summary of the main features of the model, we present comparisons of calculations for the nuclear modification and the away-side suppression factor to data in Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions at 200 GeV. We discuss properties of light hadron probes and their sensitivity to the medium density within the PQM Monte Carlo framework.Comment: Comments: 6 pages, 8 figures. To appear in the proceedings of Hot Quarks 2006: Workshop for Young Scientists on the Physics of Ultrarelativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions, Villasimius, Italy, 15-20 May 200

Direct photons in d+Au collisions at s_(NN)**(1/2)=200GeV with STAR

Results are presented of an ongoing analysis of direct photon production in s_(NN)=200GeV deuteron-gold collisions with the STAR experiment at RHIC. A significant excess of direct photons is observed near mid-rapidity 0<y<1 and found to be consistent with next-to-leading order pQCD calculations including the contribution from fragmentation photons.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, HotQuarks 200

Diffusion of particles moving with constant speed

The propagation of light in a scattering medium is described as the motion of a special kind of a Brownian particle on which the fluctuating forces act only perpendicular to its velocity. This enforces strictly and dynamically the constraint of constant speed of the photon in the medium. A Fokker-Planck equation is derived for the probability distribution in the phase space assuming the transverse fluctuating force to be a white noise. Analytic expressions for the moments of the displacement $$ along with an approximate expression for the marginal probability distribution function $P(x,t)$ are obtained. Exact numerical solutions for the phase space probability distribution for various geometries are presented. The results show that the velocity distribution randomizes in a time of about eight times the mean free time ($8t^*$) only after which the diffusion approximation becomes valid. This factor of eight is a well known experimental fact. A persistence exponent of $0.435 \pm 0.005$ is calculated for this process in two dimensions by studying the survival probability of the particle in a semi-infinite medium. The case of a stochastic amplifying medium is also discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures(Submitted to Phys. Rev. E

Transverse instability and its long-term development for solitary waves of the (2+1)-Boussinesq equation

The stability properties of line solitary wave solutions of the (2+1)-dimensional Boussinesq equation with respect to transverse perturbations and their consequences are considered. A geometric condition arising from a multi-symplectic formulation of this equation gives an explicit relation between the parameters for transverse instability when the transverse wavenumber is small. The Evans function is then computed explicitly, giving the eigenvalues for transverse instability for all transverse wavenumbers. To determine the nonlinear and long time implications of transverse instability, numerical simulations are performed using pseudospectral discretization. The numerics confirm the analytic results, and in all cases studied, transverse instability leads to collapse.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures; submitted to Phys. Rev.

Initial conditions and charged multiplicities in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions

At ultra-relativistic energies the minijet production in heavy-ion collisions becomes sensitive to semi-hard parton rescatterings in the initial stages of the process. As a result global characteristics of the event, like the initial minijet density, become rather insensitive on the infrared cutoff that separates hard and soft interactions. This allows to define a nearly parameter-free {\it saturation cutoff} at which the initial conditions may be computed. As an application we study the centrality dependence of the charged particle multiplicity, which is compared with present RHIC data and predicted at higher energies.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure