Acceptance dependence of fluctuation measures near the QCD critical point

We argue that a crucial determinant of the acceptance dependence of fluctuation measures in heavy-ion collisions is the range of correlations in the momentum space, e.g., in rapidity, $\Delta y_{\rm corr}$. The value of $\Delta y_{\rm corr}\sim1$ for critical thermal fluctuations is determined by the thermal rapidity spread of the particles at freezeout, and has little to do with position space correlations, even near the critical point where the spatial correlation length $\xi$ becomes as large as $2-3$ fm (this is in contrast to the magnitudes of the cumulants, which are sensitive to $\xi$). When the acceptance window is large, $\Delta y\gg\Delta y_{\rm corr}$, the cumulants of a given particle multiplicity, $\kappa_k$, scale linearly with $\Delta y$, or mean multiplicity in acceptance, $\langle N\rangle$, and cumulant ratios are acceptance independent. While in the opposite regime, $\Delta y\ll\Delta y_{\rm corr}$, the factorial cumulants, $\hat\kappa_k$, scale as $(\Delta y)^k$, or $\langle N\rangle^k$. We demonstrate this general behavior quantitatively in a model for critical point fluctuations, which also shows that the dependence on transverse momentum acceptance is very significant. We conclude that extension of rapidity coverage proposed by STAR should significantly increase the magnitude of the critical point fluctuation signatures.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, references adde

On spinodal points and Lee-Yang edge singularities

We address a number of outstanding questions associated with the analytic properties of the universal equation of state of the $\phi^4$ theory, which describes the critical behavior of the Ising model and ubiquitous critical points of the liquid-gas type. We focus on the relation between spinodal points that limit the domain of metastability for temperatures below the critical temperature, i.e., $T < T_{\rm c}$, and Lee-Yang edge singularities that restrict the domain of analyticity around the point of zero magnetic field $H$ for $T > T_{\rm c}$. The extended analyticity conjecture (due to Fonseca and Zamolodchikov) posits that, for $T < T_{\rm c}$, the Lee-Yang edge singularities are the closest singularities to the real $H$ axis. This has interesting implications, in particular, that the spinodal singularities must lie off the real $H$ axis for $d < 4$, in contrast to the commonly known result of the mean-field approximation. We find that the parametric representation of the Ising equation of state obtained in the $\varepsilon = 4-d$ expansion, as well as the equation of state of the ${\rm O}(N)$-symmetric $\phi^4$ theory at large $N$, are both nontrivially consistent with the conjecture. We analyze the reason for the difficulty of addressing this issue using the $\varepsilon$ expansion. It is related to the long-standing paradox associated with the fact that the vicinity of the Lee-Yang edge singularity is described by Fisher's $\phi^3$ theory, which remains nonperturbative even for $d\to 4$, where the equation of state of the $\phi^4$ theory is expected to approach the mean-field result. We resolve this paradox by deriving the Ginzburg criterion that determines the size of the region around the Lee-Yang edge singularity where mean-field theory no longer applies.Comment: 26 pages, 8 figures; v2: shortened Sec. 4.1 and streamlined arguments/notation in Sec. 4.2, details moved to appendix, added reference 1

Functional renormalization group approach to the Yang-Lee edge singularity

We determine the scaling properties of the Yang-Lee edge singularity as described by a one-component scalar field theory with imaginary cubic coupling, using the nonperturbative functional renormalization group in $3 \leq d\leq 6$ Euclidean dimensions. We find very good agreement with high-temperature series data in $d = 3$ dimensions and compare our results to recent estimates of critical exponents obtained with the four-loop $\epsilon = 6-d$ expansion and the conformal bootstrap. The relevance of operator insertions at the corresponding fixed point of the RG $\beta$ functions is discussed and we estimate the error associated with $\mathcal{O}(\partial^4)$ truncations of the scale-dependent effective action.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, updated reference to supplementary materia

Conformality Lost

We consider zero-temperature transitions from conformal to non-conformal phases in quantum theories. We argue that there are three generic mechanisms for the loss of conformality in any number of dimensions: (i) fixed point goes to zero coupling, (ii) fixed point runs off to infinite coupling, or (iii) an IR fixed point annihilates with a UV fixed point and they both disappear into the complex plane. We give both relativistic and non-relativistic examples of the last case in various dimensions and show that the critical behavior of the mass gap behaves similarly to the correlation length in the finite temperature Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) phase transition in two dimensions, xi ~ exp(c/|T-T_c|^{1/2}). We speculate that the chiral phase transition in QCD at large number of fermion flavors belongs to this universality class, and attempt to identify the UV fixed point that annihilates with the Banks-Zaks fixed point at the lower end of the conformal window.Comment: 30 pages, 6 figures; v2: typos fixed, references adde

Lorentz Invariance in Chiral Kinetic Theory

We show that Lorentz invariance is realized nontrivially in the classical action of a massless spin-$\frac12$ particle with definite helicity. We find that the ordinary Lorentz transformation is modified by a shift orthogonal to the boost vector and the particle momentum. The shift ensures angular momentum conservation in particle collisions and implies a nonlocality of the collision term in the Lorentz-invariant kinetic theory due to side jumps. We show that 2/3 of the chiral-vortical effect for a uniformly rotating particle distribution can be attributed to the magnetic moment coupling required by the Lorentz invariance. We also show how the classical action can be obtained by taking the classical limit of the path integral for a Weyl particle.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figur

Towards the Gravity Dual of Quarkonium in the Strongly Coupled QCD Plasma

We build a "bottom-up" holographic model of charmonium by matching the essential spectral data. We argue that this data must include not only the masses but also the decay constants of the J/psi and psi' mesons. Relative to the "soft-wall" models for light mesons, such a matching requires two new features in the holographic potential: an overall upward shift as well as a narrow "dip" near the holographic boundary. We calculate the spectral function as well as the position of the complex singularities (quasinormal frequencies) of the retarded correlator of the charm current at finite temperatures. We further extend this analysis by showing that the residues associated with these singularities are given by the boundary derivative of the appropriately normalized quasinormal mode. We find that the "melting" of the J/psi spectral peak occurs at a temperature of about 540 MeV, or 2.8 T_c, in good agreement with lattice results.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figure

Linear Confinement and AdS/QCD

In a theory with linear confinement, such as QCD, the masses squared m^2 of mesons with high spin S or high radial excitation number n are expected, from semiclassical arguments, to grow linearly with S and n. We show that this behavior can be reproduced within a putative 5-dimensional theory holographically dual to QCD (AdS/QCD). With the assumption that such a dual theory exists and describes highly excited mesons as well, we show that asymptotically linear m^2 spectrum translates into a strong constraint on the INFRARED behavior of that theory. In the simplest model which obeys such a constraint we find m^2 ~ (n+S).Comment: 14 pages, 1 figur

On the sign of the dilaton in the soft wall models

We elaborate on the existence of a spurious massless scalar mode in the vector channel of soft-wall models with incorrectly chosen sign of the exponential profile defining the wall. We re-iterate the point made in our earlier paper and demonstrate that the presence of the mode is robust, depending only on the infra-red asymptotics of the wall. We also re-emphasize that desired confinement properties can be realized with the correct sign choice.Comment: 10 page