The Functional Renormalization Group and O(4) scaling

The critical behavior of the chiral quark-meson model is studied within the Functional Renormalization Group (FRG). We derive the flow equation for the scale dependent thermodynamic potential at finite temperature and density in the presence of a symmetry-breaking external field. Within this scheme, the critical scaling behavior of the order parameter, its transverse and longitudinal susceptibilities as well as the correlation lengths near the chiral phase transition are computed. We focus on the scaling properties of these observables at non-vanishing external field when approaching the critical point from the symmetric as well as from the broken phase. We confront our numerical results with the Widom-Griffiths form of the magnetic equation of state, obtained by a systematic epsilon-expansion of the scaling function. Our results for the critical exponents are consistent with those recently computed within Lattice Monte-Carlo studies of the O(4) spin system.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figure

Decoherence effects in Bose-Einstein condensate interferometry. I General Theory

The present paper outlines a basic theoretical treatment of decoherence and dephasing effects in interferometry based on single component BEC in double potential wells, where two condensate modes may be involved. Results for both two mode condensates and the simpler single mode condensate case are presented. A hybrid phase space distribution functional method is used where the condensate modes are described via a truncated Wigner representation, and the basically unoccupied non-condensate modes are described via a positive P representation. The Hamiltonian for the system is described in terms of quantum field operators for the condensate and non-condensate modes. The functional Fokker-Planck equation for the double phase space distribution functional is derived. Equivalent Ito stochastic equations for the condensate and non-condensate fields that replace the field operators are obtained, and stochastic averages of products of these fields give the quantum correlation functions used to interpret interferometry experiments. The stochastic field equations are the sum of a deterministic term obtained from the drift vector in the functional Fokker-Planck equation, and a noise field whose stochastic properties are determined from the diffusion matrix in the functional Fokker-Planck equation. The noise field stochastic properties are similar to those for Gaussian-Markov processes in that the stochastic averages of odd numbers of noise fields are zero and those for even numbers of noise field terms are sums of products of stochastic averages associated with pairs of noise fields. However each pair is represented by an element of the diffusion matrix rather than products of the noise fields themselves. The treatment starts from a generalised mean field theory for two condensate mode. The generalized mean field theory solutions are needed for calculations using the Ito stochastic field equations.Comment: To be published in Annals of Physics. Full version of paper, including all Appendices. Journal version only includes Appendix A. Appendices are in online supplementary material. Cross references to material in Appendices improved in Version 2 (5 July 2010). Minor amendments made in Version 3 (23 Nov 2010), including reference to Takagi factorisation of complex symmetric matrice

Neutrino oscillation studies with IceCube-DeepCore

AbstractIceCube, a gigaton-scale neutrino detector located at the South Pole, was primarily designed to search for astrophysical neutrinos with energies of PeV and higher. This goal has been achieved with the detection of the highest energy neutrinos to date. At the other end of the energy spectrum, the DeepCore extension lowers the energy threshold of the detector to approximately 10 GeV and opens the door for oscillation studies using atmospheric neutrinos. An analysis of the disappearance of these neutrinos has been completed, with the results produced being complementary with dedicated oscillation experiments. Following a review of the detector principle and performance, the method used to make these calculations, as well as the results, is detailed. Finally, the future prospects of IceCube-DeepCore and the next generation of neutrino experiments at the South Pole (IceCube-Gen2, specifically the PINGU sub-detector) are briefly discussed

A muon-track reconstruction exploiting stochastic losses for large-scale Cherenkov detectors

IceCube is a cubic-kilometer Cherenkov telescope operating at the South Pole. The main goal of IceCube is the detection of astrophysical neutrinos and the identification of their sources. High-energy muon neutrinos are observed via the secondary muons produced in charge current interactions with nuclei in the ice. Currently, the best performing muon track directional reconstruction is based on a maximum likelihood method using the arrival time distribution of Cherenkov photons registered by the experiment\u27s photomultipliers. A known systematic shortcoming of the prevailing method is to assume a continuous energy loss along the muon track. However at energies >1 TeV the light yield from muons is dominated by stochastic showers. This paper discusses a generalized ansatz where the expected arrival time distribution is parametrized by a stochastic muon energy loss pattern. This more realistic parametrization of the loss profile leads to an improvement of the muon angular resolution of up to 20% for through-going tracks and up to a factor 2 for starting tracks over existing algorithms. Additionally, the procedure to estimate the directional reconstruction uncertainty has been improved to be more robust against numerical errors