Lattice study of the Coleman--Weinberg mass in the SU(2)-Higgs model

Radiative symmetry breaking is a well known phenomenon in perturbation theory. We study the problem in a non-perturbative framework, i.e. lattice simulations. The example of the bosonic sector of the SU(2)-Higgs model is considered. We determine the minimal scalar mass which turns out to be higher than the mass value given by 1-loop continuum perturbation theory.Comment: Contribution to ICHEP-02, Amsterdam, 24-31 July 2002, 2 pages, 1 figur

Lattice QCD at finite temperature and density

QCD at finite temperature and density is becoming increasingly important for various experimental programmes, ranging from heavy ion physics to astro-particle physics. The non-perturbative nature of non-abelian quantum field theories at finite temperature leaves lattice QCD as the only tool by which we may hope to come to reliable predictions from first principles. This requires careful extrapolations to the thermodynamic, chiral and continuum limits in order to eliminate systematic effects introduced by the discretization procedure. After an introduction to lattice QCD at finite temperature and density, its possibilities and current systematic limitations, a review of present numerical results is given. In particular, plasma properties such as the equation of state, screening masses, static quark free energies and spectral functions are discussed, as well as the critical temperature and the QCD phase structure at zero and finite density.Comment: 32 pages, typos corrected, reference added. Lectures given at 45. Internationale Universitatswochen fur Theoretische Physik: (Schladming Winter School on Theoretical Physics): Conceptual and Numerical Challenges in Femto-Scale and Peta-Scale Physics, Schladming, Styria, Austria, 24 Feb - 3 Mar 200

Excited hadrons as a signal for quark-gluon plasma formation

At the quark-hadron transition, when quarks get confined to hadrons, certain orbitally excited states, namely those which have excitation energies above the respective $L = 0$ states of the same order as the transition temperature $T_c$, may form easily because of thermal velocities of quarks at the transition temperature. We propose that the ratio of multiplicities of such excited states to the respective $L = 0$ states can serve as an almost model independent signal for the quark-gluon plasma formation in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. For example, the ratio $R^*$ of multiplicities of $D_{SJ}^{*\pm}(2317)(J^P = 0^+)$ and $D_S^{*\pm}(2112)(J^P = 1^-)$ when plotted with respect to the center of mass energy of the collision $\sqrt{s}$ (or vs. centrality/number of participants), should show a jump at the value of $\sqrt{s}$ beyond which the QGP formation occurs. This should happen irrespective of the shape of the overall plot of $R^*$ vs. $\sqrt{s}$. Recent data from RHIC on $\Lambda^*/\Lambda$ vs. N$_{part}$ for large values of N$_{part}$ may be indicative of such a behavior, though there are large error bars. We give a list of several other such candidate hadronic states.Comment: 19 pages, RevTex, no figures, minor change

On World Problems. Facts and Implications - A Hungarian View

This volume of Hungarian studies was compiled as part of the UNESCO Major Programme I (Reflection on World Problems and Future-oriented Studies) within the framework of the contract concluded between UNESCO and IIASA. The subject of the contract was the preparation of a study entitled World Problems and their Perceptions. The study was compiled in coordination with the Hungarian National Member Organization of IIASA. The Report, in addition to the State of the Art part, contains information about the Task Force Meeting which UNESCO and IIASA organized in Budapest, February 1985, on a theme in accordance with the title of the report and the contributions of which will appear later in book form. This Collaborative Paper is part of the background material of the Report. It shows a possible perception and interpretation of a group of problems, and the implications arising therefrom. The Report sets out to show what concealed cultural or professional presuppositions there are behind the weight of the different conceptions of so-called global or world problems and how they differ in relation to each other. In this connection it reflects on the UNESCO Medium-Term Plan: "Whatever the approaches adopted, studies on world problems are inevitably linked, by the very nature of the field they cover -- which is none other than the present and future of societies -- to choices based on presuppositions regarding standards or on systems of values or even on ideological choices. They seem to require, as their necessary complement, an open-minded examination carried out in a context which promotes intellectual cooperation and within which all currents of thought can be freely expressed; and no organization seems to offer such a context more successfully than UNESCO." The Report tries to justify the hypothesis formulated in UNESCO's Medium-Term Plan and make clear the necessary existence of differing cultural and professional world views in this respect. It shows that there is no one correct point of view, that many rational conceptions of equal value to each other exist, and that in relation to these problems only the acceptance of plural rationality can lead to common solutions. While this conception seems trivial, practice shows that in seeking solutions this approach is not unique and not at all self-explanatory. The Report and the Collaborative Paper show how the economic, social and cultural conditions, as well as practice, determine the world view, how wide the differences are, and that they necessarily lead to various problem formulations and action plans. In actual fact these outlined differences and knowledge of their explanation can lead the international organizations to the formulation of fuller and, probably, more successful action programmes than previously. In the Collaborative Paper we offer a selection of Hungarian studies prepared recently in various specialized fields, we give an insight into the workshop debates and results of the Hungarian research teams, and last but not least, we try to show the options formed an different topics by Hungarian researchers. The volume is not a homogeneous-topic selection, but at the same time we endeavored, by examining the facts, to concentrate on different features of the unequal development taking place globally and to indicate the interconnection between the studies. The authors of the studies examine, in a complex way, the world economic. and world political changes of the past years, the present state and tendencies of world factors and draw conclusions as to the expected developments. Naturally, as with all selections, the content of our volume cannot cover the wide range of problems -- also formulated by UNESCO's programmes, even though we plan several selections during the programme period. With this initiative, while wishing to give a sample of the work and opinions of Hungarian researchers, we would also like to encourage other national research teams to make a similar statement of opinion, so that we can contribute directly to the dialogue in the range of topics of the world problems programme being discussed also in international organizations. The range of studies closes with a summary, in which in addition to a summing up of the contents and conclusions of the studies, a sharper formulation is made of those questions to which we want particularly to draw attention at the present stage of the World Problems Programme, covering an extremely wide range of topics

Towards a controlled study of the QCD critical point

The phase diagram of QCD, as a function of temperature T and quark chemical potential mu, may contain a critical point (mu_E,T_E) whose non-perturbative nature makes it a natural object of lattice studies. However, the sign problem prevents the application of standard Monte Carlo techniques at non-zero baryon density. We have been pursuing an approach free of the sign problem, where the chemical potential is taken as imaginary and the results are Taylor-expanded in mu/T about mu=0, then analytically continued to real mu. Within this approach we have determined the sensitivity of the critical chemical potential mu_E to the quark mass, d(\mu_E)^2/dm_q|_{\mu_E=0}. Our study indicates that the critical point moves to {\em smaller} chemical potential as the quark mass {\em increases}. This finding, contrary to common wisdom, implies that the deconfinement crossover, which takes place in QCD at mu=0 when the temperature is raised, will remain a crossover in the mu-region where our Taylor expansion can be trusted. If this result, obtained on a coarse lattice, is confirmed by simulations on finer lattices now in progress, then we predict that no {\em chiral} critical point will be found for mu_B \lesssim 500 MeV, unless the phase diagram contains additional transitions.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, proceedings of Quark Matter 2008, Jaipur (India), Feb. 2008, to appear in J. Phys.

Variable - temperature scanning optical and force microscope

The implementation of a scanning microscope capable of working in confocal, atomic force and apertureless near field configurations is presented. The microscope is designed to operate in the temperature range 4 - 300 K, using conventional helium flow cryostats. In AFM mode, the distance between the sample and an etched tungsten tip is controlled by a self - sensing piezoelectric tuning fork. The vertical position of both the AFM head and microscope objective can be accurately controlled using piezoelectric coarse approach motors. The scanning is performed using a compact XYZ stage, while the AFM and optical head are kept fixed, allowing scanning probe and optical measurements to be acquired simultaneously and in concert. The free optical axis of the microscope enables both reflection and transmission experiments to be performed.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figures, submitted to the journal "Review of Scientific Instruments

Four-dimensional lattice results on the MSSM electroweak phase transition

We present the results of our large scale 4-dimensional (4d) lattice simulations for the MSSM electroweak phase transition (EWPT). We carried out infinite volume and continuum limit extrapolations and found a transition whose strength agrees well with perturbation theory. We determined the properties of the bubble wall that are important for a successful baryogenesis.Comment: 5 pages, 3figures. Talk presented at Johns Hopkins Workshop on Nonperturbative Quantum Field Theory Methods and their Applications (19-21 August 2000.

EoS of finite density QCD with Wilson fermions by Multi-Parameter Reweighting and Taylor expansion

The equation of state (EoS), quark number density and susceptibility at nonzero quark chemical potential $\mu$ are studied in lattice QCD simulations with a clover-improved Wilson fermion of 2-flavors and RG-improved gauge action. To access nonzero $\mu$, we employ two methods : a multi-parameter reweighting (MPR) in $\mu$ and $\beta$ and Taylor expansion in $\mu/T$. The use of a reduction formula for the Wilson fermion determinant enables to study the reweighting factor in MPR explicitly and heigher-order coefficients in Taylor expansion free from errors of noise method, although calculations are limited to small lattice size. As a consequence, we can study the reliability of the thermodynamical quantities through the consistency of the two methods, each of which has different origin of the application limit. The thermodynamical quantities are obtained from simulations on a $8^3\times 4$ lattice with an intermediate quark mass($m_{\rm PS}/m_{\rm V}=0.8)$. The MPR and Taylor expansion are consistent for the EoS and number density up to $\mu/T\sim 0.8$ and for the number susceptibility up to $\mu/T \sim 0.6$. This implies within a given statistics that the overlap problem for the MPR and truncation error for the Taylor expansion method are negligible in these regions. In order to make MPR methods work, the fluctuation of the reweighting factor should be small. We derive the equation of the reweighting line where the fluctuation is small, and show that the equation of the reweighting line is consistent with the fluctuation minimum condition.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures. Accepted to JHEP. Discussions are added. Figures for Taylor coefficients (Fig. 7) are modifie

Modeling the dynamics of a tracer particle in an elastic active gel

The internal dynamics of active gels, both in artificial (in-vitro) model systems and inside the cytoskeleton of living cells, has been extensively studied by experiments of recent years. These dynamics are probed using tracer particles embedded in the network of biopolymers together with molecular motors, and distinct non-thermal behavior is observed. We present a theoretical model of the dynamics of a trapped active particle, which allows us to quantify the deviations from equilibrium behavior, using both analytic and numerical calculations. We map the different regimes of dynamics in this system, and highlight the different manifestations of activity: breakdown of the virial theorem and equipartition, different elasticity-dependent "effective temperatures" and distinct non-Gaussian distributions. Our results shed light on puzzling observations in active gel experiments, and provide physical interpretation of existing observations, as well as predictions for future studies.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure

Electroweak Phase Transition in the MSSM: 4-Dimensional Lattice Simulations

Recent lattice results have shown that there is no Standard Model (SM) electroweak phase transition (EWPT) for Higgs boson masses above \approx 72 GeV, which is below the present experimental limit. According to perturbation theory and 3-dimensional (3d) lattice simulations there could be an EWPT in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) that is strong enough for baryogenesis up to m_h \approx 105 GeV. In this letter we present the results of our large scale 4-dimensional (4d) lattice simulations for the MSSM EWPT. We carried out infinite volume and continuum limits and found a transition whose strength agrees well with perturbation theory, allowing MSSM electroweak baryogenesis at least up to m_h = 103 \pm 4 GeV. We determined the properties of the bubble wall that are important for a successful baryogenesis.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures included; lightest Higgs mass bound relaxed (abstract, fig. 3 changed), version to appear in Phys. Rev. Letter