Enhanced Production of Delta(1230) and Sigma(1385) Resonances

Yields of Delta(1230), Sigma(1385) resonances produced in heavy ion collisions are studied within the framework of a kinetic master equation. The time evolution is driven by the process Delta(1230) \leftrightarrow N \pi, Sigma(1385) \leftrightarrow \Lambda \pi . We obtain resonance yield both below and above chemical equilibrium, depending on initial hadronization condition and separation of kinetic and chemical freeze-out.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Resonances and fluctuations in the statistical model

We describe how the study of resonances and fluctuations can help constrain the thermal and chemical freezeout properties of the fireball created in heavy ion collisions. This review is based on [1-5].Comment: Proceedings,"Hadronic resonance production in heavy ion and elementary collisions" UT Austin, March 5-7 201

What can we learn from fluctuations of particle ratios?

We explain how fluctuations of ratios can constrain and falsify the statistical model of particle production in heavy ion collisions, using K/p fluctuations as an example. We define an observable capable of determining which statistical model, if any, governs freeze-out in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions. We calculate this observable for K/p fluctuations, and show that it should be the same for RHIC and LHC energies, as well as independent of centrality, if the Grand-Canonical statistical model is an appropriate description and chemical equilibrium applies. We describe variations of this scaling for deviations from this scenario, such as light quark chemical non-equilibrium, strange quark over-saturation and local conservation (canonical ensemble) for strange quarks. We also introduce a similar observable capable, together with the published K*/K measurement, of ascertaining if an interacting hadron gas phase governs the system between thermal and chemical freeze-out, and of ascertaining its duration and impact on hadronic chemistry

Holography in a background-independent effective theory

We discuss the meaning of the strong equivalence principle when applied to a quantum field theory. We show that, because of unitary inequivalence of accelerated frames, the only way for the equivalence principle to apply exactly is to add a boundary term representing the decoherence of degrees of freedom leaving the observable region of the bulk. We formulate the constraints necessary for the equivalence principle to hold at the level of the partition function and argue that, when the non-unitary part is expressed as a functional integral over the horizon, holography arises naturally as a consequence of the equivalence principle.Comment: Matches published versio

Azimuthal instabilities of the Gribov-Levin-Ryskin equation

We introduce the phenomenology of elliptic flow in nuclear collisions, and argue that its scaling across energies, rapidities and system sizes could be suggestive of a QCD-based rather than a hydrodynamical explanation. As a hypothesis for such an explanation, we show that the GLR equation develops unstable modes when the parton distribution function is generalized to depend on azimuthal angle. This generally means the structure function aquires an azimuthal dependence. We argue that this process is a plausible alternative explanation for the origin of elliptic flow, one that naturally respects the scaling experimentally observed.Comment: Accepted for publication, European Physical Journal