Open Questions in the Understanding of Strangeness Production in HIC -- Experiment Perspective

Open questions concerning strangeness production in heavy-ion collisions are discussed with a focus on the experimental aspects. The open points are presented in the context of recent measurements.Comment: Proceedings for the Strange Quark Matter 2017 conference in Utrecht, Netherland

Strangeness Production at the SPS

Systematic studies on the production of strange hyperons and the phi meson as a function of beam energy and system size performed by the NA49 collaboration are discussed. Hadronic transport models fail to describe the production of multi strange particles (Xi, Omega), while statistical models are generally in good agreement to the measured particle yields at all energies. The system size dependence is well reproduced by the core-corona approach. New data on K*(892) production are presented. The yields of these short-lived resonances are significantly below the statistical model expectation. This is in line with the interpretation that the measurable yields are reduced due to rescattering of their decay products inside the fireball.Comment: Proceedings to the ISMD09 Conference. 5 pages, 6 figure

Stopping in central Pb + Pb collisions at SPS energies and beyond

We investigate stopping and baryon transport in central relativistic Pb + Pb and Au + Au collisions. At energies reached at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron [sqrt(s_NN) = 6.3-17.3 GeV] and at RHIC (62.4 GeV), we determine the fragmentation-peak positions from the data. The resulting linear growth of the peak positions with beam rapidity is in agreement with our results from a QCD-based approach that accounts for gluon saturation. No discontinuities in the net-proton fragmentation peak positions occur in the expected transition region from partons to hadrons at 6-10 GeV.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. Figures updated, table shortened, 1 reference adde

Harmonically Trapped Four-Boson System

Four identical spinless bosons with purely attractive two-body short-range interactions and repulsive three-body interactions under external spherically symmetric harmonic confinement are considered. The repulsive three-body potential prevents the formation of deeply-bound states with molecular character. The low-energy spectrum with vanishing orbital angular momentum and positive parity for infinitely large two-body $s$-wave scattering length is analyzed in detail. Using the three-body contact, states are classified as universal, quasi-universal, or strongly non-universal. Connections with the zero-range interaction model are discussed. The energy spectrum is mapped out as a function of the two-body $s$-wave scattering length $a_s$, $a_s>0$. In the weakly- to medium-strongly-interacting regime, one of the states approaches the energy obtained for a hard core interaction model. This state is identified as the energetically lowest-lying "BEC state". Structural properties are also presented.Comment: 6 figure

System Size Dependence of Particle Production at the SPS

Recent results on the system size dependence of net-baryon and hyperon production as measured at the CERN SPS are discussed. The observed Npart dependences of yields, but also of dynamical properties, such as average transverse momenta, can be described in the context of the core corona approach. Other observables, such as antiproton yields and net-protons at forward rapidities, do not follow the predictions of this model. Possible implications for a search for a critical point in the QCD phase diagram are discussed. Event-by-event fluctuations of the relative core to corona source contributions might influence fluctuation observables (e.g. multiplicity fluctuations). The magnitude of this effect is investigated.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figurs. Proceedings of the 6th International Workshop on Critical Point and Onset of Deconfinement in Dubna, Aug. 201

Application of pressurized liquid nitrogen inside parametric-amplifier structures for input-noise-temperature improvement

Pressurized liquid nitrogen inside parametric amplifier structures for input, noise, and temperature improvement

Unification and limitations of error suppression techniques for adiabatic quantum computing

While adiabatic quantum computation (AQC) possesses some intrinsic robustness to noise, it is expected that a form of error control will be necessary for large scale computations. Error control ideas developed for circuit-model quantum computation do not transfer easily to the AQC model and to date there have been two main proposals to suppress errors during an AQC implementation: energy gap protection and dynamical decoupling. Here we show that these two methods are fundamentally related and may be analyzed within the same formalism. We analyze the effectiveness of such error suppression techniques and identify critical constraints on the performance of error suppression in AQC, suggesting that error suppression by itself is insufficient for fault-tolerant, large-scale AQC and that a form of error correction is needed. This manuscript has been superseded by the articles, "Error suppression and error correction in adiabatic quantum computation I: techniques and challenges," arXiv:1307.5893, and "Error suppression and error correction in adiabatic quantum computation II: non-equilibrium dynamics," arXiv:1307.5892.Comment: 9 pages. Update replaces "Equivalence" with "Unification." This manuscript has been superseded by the two-article series: arXiv:1307.5892 and arXiv:1307.589

Dipolar Bose gases: Many-body versus mean-field description

We characterize zero-temperature dipolar Bose gases under external spherical confinement as a function of the dipole strength using the essentially exact many-body diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC) technique. We show that the DMC energies are reproduced accurately within a mean-field framework if the variation of the s-wave scattering length with the dipole strength is accounted for properly. Our calculations suggest stability diagrams and collapse mechanisms of dipolar Bose gases that differ significantly from those previously proposed in the literature

Particle Production at the SPS and the QCD Phase Diagram

Recent results of particle production in the energy regime of the CERN-SPS are reviewed. In order to collect information on the properties of the QCD phase diagram systematic studies of the system size and the energy dependence of particle production in heavy ion collisions have been performed. Net-baryon distributions and results on strangeness production are discussed. The system size dependence of many observables can be understood in the core-corona approach, which has implications on the possibility to use system size as a control parameter to study different areas of the phase diagram. Recent attempts to search for a critical point, such as multiplicity fluctuations and the transverse mass dependence of anti-baryon/baryon ratios are reviewed.Comment: Proccedings of 26th Winter Workshop on Nuclear Dynamics, 9 pages, 7 figure

Tuning the interactions of spin-polarized fermions using quasi-one-dimensional confinement

The behavior of ultracold atomic gases depends crucially on the two-body scattering properties of these systems. We develop a multichannel scattering theory for atom-atom collisions in quasi-one-dimensional (quasi-1D) geometries such as atomic waveguides or highly elongated traps. We apply our general framework to the low energy scattering of two spin-polarized fermions and show that tightly-confined fermions have infinitely strong interactions at a particular value of the 3D, free-space p-wave scattering volume. Moreover, we describe a mapping of this strongly interacting system of two quasi-1D fermions to a weakly interacting system of two 1D bosons.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev. Let