Collision of Polymers in a Vacuum

In a number of experimental situations, single polymer molecules can be suspended in a vacuum. Here collisions between such molecules are considered. The limit of high collision velocity is investigated numerically for a variety of conditions. The distribution of contact times, scattering angles, and final velocities are analyzed. In this limit, self avoiding chains are found to become highly stretched as they collide with each other, and have a distribution of scattering times that depends on the scattering angle. The velocity of the molecules after the collisions is similar to predictions of a model assuming thermal equilibration of molecules during the collision. The most important difference is a significant subset of molecules that inelastically scatter but do not substantially change direction.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Shear viscosity to entropy density ratio in nuclear multifragmentation

Nuclear multifragmentation in intermediate energy heavy ion collisions has long been associated with liquid-gas phase transition. We calculate the shear viscosity to entropy density ratio eta/s for an equilibrated system of nucleons and fragments produced in multifragmentation within an extended statistical multifragmentation model. The temperature dependence of eta/s exhibits surprisingly similar behavior as that for water. In the coexistence phase of fragments and light particles, the ratio eta/s reaches a minimum of comparable depth as that for water in the vicinity of the critical temperature for liquid-gas phase transition. The effects of freeze-out volume and surface symmetry energy on eta/s in multifragmentation are studied.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, to appear in PR

Almost Certain Escape from Black Holes

This paper examines how black holes might compute in light of recent models of the black-hole final state. These models suggest that quantum information can escape from the black hole by a process akin to teleportation. They require a specific final state and restrictions on the interaction between the collapsing matter and the incoming Hawking radiation for quantum information to escape. This paper shows that for an arbitrary final state and for generic interactions between matter and Hawking radiation, the quantum information about how the hole was formed and the results of any computation performed by the matter inside the hole escapes with fidelity exponentially close to 1.Comment: 9 Pages, Te

Simulations of collision times in gravity driven granular flow

We use simulations to investigate collision time distributions as one approaches the static limit of steady-state flow of dry granular matter. The collision times fall in a power-law distribution with an exponent dictated by whether the grains are ordered or disordered. Remarkably, the exponents have almost no dependence on dimension. We are also able to resolve a disagreement between simulation and experiments on the exponent of the collision time power-law distribution.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Phase diagram for the asymmetric nuclear matter in the multifragmentation model

We assume that, in equilibrium, nuclear matter at reduced density and moderate finite temperature, breaks up into many fragments. A strong support to this assumption is provided by date accumulated from intermediate energy heavy ion collisions. The break-up of hot and expanded nuclear matter according to rules of equilibrium statistical mechanics is the multifragmentation model. The model gives a first order phase transition. This is studied in detail here. Phase-equilibrium lines for different degrees of asymmetry are computed.Comment: 22 pages, 10 figure

Distribution of occupation numbers in finite Fermi-systems and role of interaction in chaos and thermalization

New method is developed for calculation of single-particle occupation numbers in finite Fermi systems of interacting particles. It is more accurate than the canonical distribution method and gives the Fermi-Dirac distribution in the limit of large number of particles. It is shown that statistical effects of the interaction are absorbed by an increase of the effective temperature. Criteria for quantum chaos and statistical equilibrium are considered. All results are confirmed by numerical experiments in the two-body random interaction model.Comment: 4 pages, Latex, 4 figures in the form of PS-file

Electron-phonon coupling and longitudinal mechanical-mode cooling in a metallic nanowire

We investigate electron-phonon coupling in a narrow suspended metallic wire, in which the phonon modes are restricted to one dimension but the electrons behave three-dimensionally. Explicit theoretical results related to the known bulk properties are derived. We find out that longitudinal vibration modes can be cooled by electronic tunnel refrigeration far below the bath temperature provided the mechanical quality factors of the modes are sufficiently high. The obtained results apply to feasible experimental configurations.Comment: 4+ pages, 3 figure

Noninteracting Fermions in infinite dimensions

Usually, we study the statistical behaviours of noninteracting Fermions in finite (mainly two and three) dimensions. For a fixed number of fermions, the average energy per fermion is calculated in two and in three dimensions and it becomes equal to 50 and 60 per cent of the fermi energy respectively. However, in the higher dimensions this percentage increases as the dimensionality increases and in infinite dimensions it becomes 100 per cent. This is an intersting result, at least pedagogically. Which implies all fermions are moving with Fermi momentum. This result is not yet discussed in standard text books of quantum statistics. In this paper, this fact is discussed and explained. I hope, this article will be helpful for graduate students to study the behaviours of free fermions in generalised dimensionality.Comment: To appear in European Journal of Physics (2010

Quark-Hadron Phase Transitions in Viscous Early Universe

Based on hot big bang theory, the cosmological matter is conjectured to undergo QCD phase transition(s) to hadrons, when the universe was about $1-10 \mu$s old. In the present work, we study the quark-hadron phase transition, by taking into account the effect of the bulk viscosity. We analyze the evolution of the quantities relevant for the physical description of the early universe, namely, the energy density $\rho$, temperature $T$, Hubble parameter $H$ and scale factor $a$ before, during and after the phase transition. To study the cosmological dynamics and the time evolution we use both analytical and numerical methods. By assuming that the phase transition may be described by an effective nucleation theory (prompt {\it first-order} phase transition), we also consider the case where the universe evolved through a mixed phase with a small initial supercooling and monotonically growing hadronic bubbles. The numerical estimation of the cosmological parameters, $a$ and $H$ for instance, makes it clear that the time evolution varies from phase to phase. As the QCD era turns to be fairly accessible in the high-energy experiments and the lattice QCD simulations, the QCD equation of state is very well defined. In light of this, we introduce a systematic study of the {\it cross-over} quark-hadron phase transition and an estimation for the time evolution of Hubble parameter.Comment: 27 pages, 17 figures, revtex style (To appear in Phys. Rev. D). arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:gr-qc/040404

How Much do Heavy Quarks Thermalize in a Heavy Ion Collision?

We investigate the thermalization of charm quarks in high energy heavy ion collisions. To this end, we calculate the diffusion coefficient in the perturbative Quark Gluon Plasma and relate it to collisional energy loss and momentum broadening. We then use these transport properties to formulate a Langevin model for the evolution of the heavy quark spectrum in the hot medium. The model is strictly valid in the non-relativistic limit and for all velocities \gamma v < \alphas^{-1/2} to leading logarithm in $T/m_D$. The corresponding Fokker-Planck equation can be solved analytically for a Bjorken expansion and the solution gives a simple estimate for the medium modifications of the heavy quark spectrum as a function of the diffusion coefficient. Finally we solve the Langevin equations numerically in a hydrodynamic simulation of the heavy ion reaction. The results of this simulation are the medium modifications of the charm spectrum $R_{AA}$ and the expected elliptic flow $v_2(p_T)$ as a function of the diffusion coefficient.Comment: 34 pages, 9 figures. Inculdes a detailed comparison with Boltzmann simulation