149 research outputs found
Results from the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider
We describe the current status of the heavy ion research program at the
Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The new suite of experiments and the
collider energies have opened up new probes of the medium created in the
collisions. Our review focuses on the experimental discoveries to date at RHIC
and their interpretation in the light of our present theoretical understanding
of the dynamics of relativistic heavy ion collisions and of the structure of
strongly interacting matter at high energy density.Comment: 47 pages, 10 figures, submitted to Annual Review of Nuclear and
Particle Science. The authors invite and appreciate feedback about possible
errors and/or inconsistencies in the manuscrip
Thermodynamic Properties of Holographic Multiquark and the Multiquark Star
We study thermodynamic properties of the multiquark nuclear matter. The
dependence of the equation of state on the colour charges is explored both
analytically and numerically in the limits where the baryon density is small
and large at fixed temperature between the gluon deconfinement and chiral
symmetry restoration. The gravitational stability of the hypothetical
multiquark stars are discussed using the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equation.
Since the equations of state of the multiquarks can be well approximated by
different power laws for small and large density, the content of the multiquark
stars has the core and crust structure. We found that most of the mass of the
star comes from the crust region where the density is relatively small. The
mass limit of the multiquark star is determined as well as its relation to the
star radius. For typical energy density scale of ,
the converging mass and radius of the hypothetical multiquark star in the limit
of large central density are approximately solar mass and 15-27 km.
The adiabatic index and sound speed distributions of the multiquark matter in
the star are also calculated and discussed. The sound speed never exceeds the
speed of light and the multiquark matters are thus compressible even at high
density and pressure.Comment: 27 pages, 17 figures, 1 table, JHEP versio
Meson Thermalization in Various Dimensions
In gauge/gravity duality framework the thermalization of mesons in strongly
coupled (p+1)-dimensional gauge theories is studied for a general Dp-Dq system,
q>=p, using the flavour Dq-brane as a probe. Thermalization corresponds to the
horizon formation on the flavour Dq-brane. We calculate the thermalization
time-scale due to a time-dependent change in the baryon number chemical
potential, baryon injection in the field theory. We observe that for such a
general system it has a universal behaviour depending only on the t'Hooft
coupling constant and the two parameters which describe how we inject baryons
into the system. We show that this universal behaviour is independent of the
details of the theory whether it is conformal and/or supersymmetric.Comment: 26 pages, 2 figure
The QCD sign problem and dynamical simulations of random matrices
At nonzero quark chemical potential dynamical lattice simulations of QCD are
hindered by the sign problem caused by the complex fermion determinant. The
severity of the sign problem can be assessed by the average phase of the
fermion determinant. In an earlier paper we derived a formula for the
microscopic limit of the average phase for general topology using chiral random
matrix theory. In the current paper we present an alternative derivation of the
same quantity, leading to a simpler expression which is also calculable for
finite-sized matrices, away from the microscopic limit. We explicitly prove the
equivalence of the old and new results in the microscopic limit. The results
for finite-sized matrices illustrate the convergence towards the microscopic
limit. We compare the analytical results with dynamical random matrix
simulations, where various reweighting methods are used to circumvent the sign
problem. We discuss the pros and cons of these reweighting methods.Comment: 34 pages, 3 figures, references added, as published in JHE
Leading particles and diffractive spectra in the Interacting Gluon Model
We discuss the leading particle spectra and diffractive mass spectra from the
novel point of view, namely by treating them as particular examples of the
general energy flow phenomena taking place in the multiparticle production
processes. We argue that they show a high degree of universality what allows
for their simple description in terms of the Interacting Gluon Model developed
by us some time ago.Comment: Presented at Diffraction2002, Alushta, Crimea (Ukraina), August 31 -
September 5, 2002. To be published by Kluwer Academic Publishers (2003)
(necessary style files attached). Rewritten according to the Kluwer
specification
Two dimensional fermions in three dimensional YM
Dirac fermions in the fundamental representation of SU(N) live on the surface
of a cylinder embedded in and interact with a three dimensional SU(N)
Yang Mills vector potential preserving a global chiral symmetry at finite .
As the circumference of the cylinder is varied from small to large, the chiral
symmetry gets spontaneously broken in the infinite limit at a typical bulk
scale. Replacing three dimensional YM by four dimensional YM introduces
non-trivial renormalization effects.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figures, 5 table
Direct observation of growth and collapse of a Bose-Einstein condensate with attractive interactions
The dynamical behavior of Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) in a gas with
attractive interactions is striking. Quantum theory predicts that BEC of a
spatially homogeneous gas with attractive interactions is precluded by a
conventional phase transition into either a liquid or solid. When confined to a
trap, however, such a condensate can form provided that its occupation number
does not exceed a limiting value. The stability limit is determined by a
balance between self-attraction and a repulsion arising from position-momentum
uncertainty under conditions of spatial confinement. Near the stability limit,
self-attraction can overwhelm the repulsion, causing the condensate to
collapse. Growth of the condensate, therefore, is punctuated by intermittent
collapses, which are triggered either by macroscopic quantum tunneling or
thermal fluctuation. Previous observation of growth and collapse has been
hampered by the stochastic nature of these mechanisms. Here we reduce the
stochasticity by controlling the initial number of condensate atoms using a
two-photon transition to a diatomic molecular state. This enables us to obtain
the first direct observation of the growth of a condensate with attractive
interactions and its subsequent collapse.Comment: 10 PDF pages, 5 figures (2 color), 19 references, to appear in Nature
Dec. 7 200
The epsilon expansion at next-to-next-to-leading order with small imaginary chemical potential
We discuss chiral perturbation theory for two and three quark flavors in the
epsilon expansion at next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) including a small
imaginary chemical potential. We calculate finite-volume corrections to the
low-energy constants and and determine the non-universal
modifications of the theory, i.e., modifications that cannot be mapped to
random matrix theory (RMT). In the special case of two quark flavors in an
asymmetric box we discuss how to minimize the finite-volume corrections and
non-universal modifications by an optimal choice of the lattice geometry.
Furthermore we provide a detailed calculation of a special version of the
massless sunset diagram at finite volume.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figure
Quarkonium dissociation by anisotropy
We compute the screening length for quarkonium mesons moving through an
anisotropic, strongly coupled N=4 super Yang-Mills plasma by means of its
gravity dual. We present the results for arbitrary velocities and orientations
of the mesons, as well as for arbitrary values of the anisotropy. The
anisotropic screening length can be larger or smaller than the isotropic one,
and this depends on whether the comparison is made at equal temperatures or at
equal entropy densities. For generic motion we find that: (i) mesons dissociate
above a certain critical value of the anisotropy, even at zero temperature;
(ii) there is a limiting velocity for mesons in the plasma, even at zero
temperature; (iii) in the ultra-relativistic limit the screening length scales
as with \epsilon =1/2, in contrast with the isotropic result
\epsilon =1/4.Comment: 39 pages, 26 figures; v2: minor changes, added reference
Ultraviolet asymptotics of scalar and pseudoscalar correlators in hot Yang-Mills theory
Inspired by recent lattice measurements, we determine the short-distance (a
> omega >> pi T) asymptotics
of scalar (trace anomaly) and pseudoscalar (topological charge density)
correlators at 2-loop order in hot Yang-Mills theory. The results are expressed
in the form of an Operator Product Expansion. We confirm and refine the
determination of a number of Wilson coefficients; however some discrepancies
with recent literature are detected as well, and employing the correct values
might help, on the qualitative level, to understand some of the features
observed in the lattice measurements. On the other hand, the Wilson
coefficients show slow convergence and it appears uncertain whether this
approach can lead to quantitative comparisons with lattice data. Nevertheless,
as we outline, our general results might serve as theoretical starting points
for a number of perhaps phenomenologically more successful lines of
investigation.Comment: 27 pages. v2: minor improvements, published versio
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