Vector Meson Dominance and gρππg_{\rho\pi\pi} at Finite Temperature from QCD Sum Rules

A Finite Energy QCD sum rule at non-zero temperature is used to determine the $q^2$- and the T-dependence of the $\rho \pi \pi$ vertex function in the space-like region. A comparison with an independent QCD determination of the electromagnetic pion form factor $F_{\pi}$ at $T \neq 0$ indicates that Vector Meson Dominance holds to a very good approximation at finite temperature. At the same time, analytical evidence for deconfinement is obtained from the result that $g_{\rho \pi \pi}(q^{2},T)$ vanishes at the critical temperature $T_c$, independently of $q^{2}$. Also, by extrapolating the $\rho \pi \pi$ form factor to $q^2 = 0$, it is found that the pion radius increases with increasing $T$, and it diverges at $T=T_c$.Comment: 7 pages, Latex, 3 figures to be delivered from the authors by request, to appear in Phys. Lett.

Operator product expansion and duality at finite temperature

The operator product expansion of current correlators at short distances, and the notion of QCD-hadron duality are the cornerstone of QCD sum rules. The extension of this programme to $T \neq 0$ is discussed, together with applications to hot hadronic propagators. Indications are that the hadronic spectrum suffers a substantial rearrangement with increasing temperature, and hint on the existence of a quark deconfining phase transition. Phenomenological order parameters to characterize this phase transition are discussed.Comment: UCT-TP-209/94. Invited talk at QCD-94, Montpellier, July 1994. LATEX file. 5 pages. NO figure

QCD sum rules and thermal properties of Charmonium in the vector channel

The thermal evolution of the hadronic parameters of charmonium in the vector channel, i.e. the J/psi resonance mass, coupling (leptonic decay constant), total width, and continuum threshold is analyzed in the framework of thermal Hilbert moment QCD sum rules. The continuum threshold $s_0$, as in other hadronic channels, decreases with increasing temperature until the PQCD threshold s_0 = 4, m_Q^2 is reached at T \simeq 1.22T_c (m_Q is the charm quark mass) and the J/psi mass is essentially constant in a wide range of temperatures. The other hadronic parameters behave in a very different way from those of light-light and heavy-light quark systems. The total width grows with temperature up to T \simeq 1.04T_c beyond which it decreases sharply with increasing T. The resonance coupling is also initially constant beginning to increase monotonically around T \simeq T_c. This behavior strongly suggests that the J/psi resonance might survive beyond the critical temperature for deconfinement, in agreement with lattice QCD results.Comment: 4 pages, two figures, contribution to QCD 10, Montpellier 28th June-2nd July 201

Pion form factor in large NcN_c QCD

The electromagnetic form factor of the pion is obtained using a particular realization of QCD in the large $N_c$ limit, which sums up the infinite number of zero-width resonances to yield an Euler's Beta function of the Veneziano type. This form factor agrees with space-like data much better than single rho-meson dominance. A simple unitarization ansatz is illustrated, and the resulting vector spectral function in the time-like region is shown to be in reasonable agreement with the ALEPH data from threshold up to about 1.3 ${GeV}^2$.Comment: Plain Latex, 9 pages, 2 figure

QCD determination of the axial-vector coupling of the nucleon at finite temperature

A thermal QCD Finite Energy Sum Rule (FESR) is used to obtain the temperature dependence of the axial-vector coupling of the nucleon, $g_{A}(T)$. We find that $g_{A}(T)$ is essentially independent of $T$, in the very wide range $0 \leq T \leq 0.9 T_{c}$, where $T_{c}$ is the critical temperature. While $g_{A}$ at T=0 is $q^{2}$-independent, it develops a $q^{2}$ dependence at finite temperature. We then obtain the mean square radius associated with $g_{A}$ and find that it diverges at $T=T_{c}$, thus signalling quark deconfinement. As a byproduct, we study the temperature dependence of the Goldberger-Treiman relation.Comment: 8 pages and 3 figure

Electromagnetic pion form factor at finite temperature

The electromagnetic form factor of the pion in the space-like region, and at finite temperature, $F_{\pi}(Q^{2},T)$, is obtained from a QCD Finite Energy Sum Rule. The form factor decreases with increasing T, and vanishes at some critical temperature, where the pion radius diverges. This divergence may be interpreted as a signal for quark deconfinement.Comment: LATEX File. UCT-TP-215/94. One figure available on request. To be published in Phys. Lett.

The exact renormalization group in Astrophysics

The coarse-graining operation in hydrodynamics is equivalent to a change of scale which can be formalized as a renormalization group transformation. In particular, its application to the probability distribution of a self-gravitating fluid yields an "exact renormalization group equation" of Fokker-Planck type. Since the time evolution of that distribution can also be described by a Fokker-Planck equation, we propose a connection between both equations, that is, a connection between scale and time evolution. We finally remark on the essentially non-perturbative nature of astrophysical problems, which suggests that the exact renormalization group is the adequate tool for them.Comment: World Scientific style, 6 pages, presented at the 2nd Conference on the Exact RG, Rome 200

Ratio of strange to non-strange quark condensates in QCD

Laplace transform QCD sum rules for two-point functions related to the strangeness-changing scalar and pseudoscalar Green's functions $\psi(Q^2)$ and $\psi_5(Q^2)$, are used to determine the subtraction constants $\psi(0)$ and $\psi_5(0)$, which fix the ratio $R_{su}\equiv \frac{}{}$. Our results are $\psi(0)= - (1.06 \pm 0.21) \times 10^{-3} {GeV}^4$, $\psi_5(0)= (3.35 \pm 0.25) \times 10^{-3} {GeV}^4$, and $R_{su}\equiv \frac{}{} = 0.5 \pm 0.1$. This implies corrections to kaon-PCAC at the level of 50%, which although large, are not inconsistent with the size of the corrections to Goldberger-Treiman relations in $SU(3)\otimes SU(3)$.Comment: Latex file, 14 pages including 3 figure

Determination of the strange-quark mass from QCD pseudoscalar sum rules

A new determination of the strange-quark mass is discussed, based on the two-point function involving the axial-vector current divergences. This Green function is known in perturbative QCD up to order O(alpha_s^3), and up to dimension-six in the non-perturbative domain. The hadronic spectral function is parametrized in terms of the kaon pole, followed by its two radial excitations, and normalized at threshold according to conventional chiral-symmetry. The result of a Laplace transform QCD sum rule analysis of this two-point function is: m_s(1 GeV^2) = 155 pm 25 MeV.Comment: Invited talk given by CAD at QCD98, Montpellier, July 1998. To appear in Nucl.Phys.B Proc.Suppl. Latex File. Four (double column) page

Quark masses in QCD: a progress report

Recent progress on QCD sum rule determinations of the light and heavy quark masses is reported. In the light quark sector a major breakthrough has been made recently in connection with the historical systematic uncertainties due to a lack of experimental information on the pseudoscalar resonance spectral functions. It is now possible to suppress this contribution to the 1% level by using suitable integration kernels in Finite Energy QCD sum rules. This allows to determine the up-, down-, and strange-quark masses with an unprecedented precision of some 8-10%. Further reduction of this uncertainty will be possible with improved accuracy in the strong coupling, now the main source of error. In the heavy quark sector, the availability of experimental data in the vector channel, and the use of suitable multipurpose integration kernels allows to increase the accuracy of the charm- and bottom-quarks masses to the 1% level.Comment: Invited review paper to be published in Modern Physics Letters