Thermodynamic limit and semi--intensive quantities

The properties of statistical ensembles with abelian charges close to the thermodynamic limit are discussed. The finite volume corrections to the probability distributions and particle density moments are calculated. Results are obtained for statistical ensembles with both exact and average charge conservation. A new class of variables (semi--intensive variables) which differ in the thermodynamic limit depending on how charge conservation is implemented in the system is introduced. The thermodynamic limit behavior of these variables is calculated through the next to leading order finite volume corrections to the corresponding probability density distributions.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures In v2 figures are added and corresponding editorial changes are done. Paper will be published in Journal of Physics

Path integral evaluation of equilibrium isotope effects

A general and rigorous methodology to compute the quantum equilibrium isotope effect is described. Unlike standard approaches, ours does not assume separability of rotational and vibrational motions and does not make the harmonic approximation for vibrations or rigid rotor approximation for the rotations. In particular, zero point energy and anharmonicity effects are described correctly quantum mechanically. The approach is based on the thermodynamic integration with respect to the mass of isotopes and on the Feynman path integral representation of the partition function. An efficient estimator for the derivative of free energy is used whose statistical error is independent of the number of imaginary time slices in the path integral, speeding up calculations by a factor of 60 at 500 K. We describe the implementation of the methodology in the molecular dynamics package Amber 10. The method is tested on three [1,5] sigmatropic hydrogen shift reactions. Because of the computational expense, we use ab initio potentials to evaluate the equilibrium isotope effects within the harmonic approximation, and then the path integral method together with semiempirical potentials to evaluate the anharmonicity corrections. Our calculations show that the anharmonicity effects amount up to 30% of the symmetry reduced reaction free energy. The numerical results are compared with recent experiments of Doering and coworkers, confirming the accuracy of the most recent measurement on 2,4,6,7,9-pentamethyl-5-(5,5-$^2$H$_2$)methylene-11,11a-dihydro-12H-naphthacene as well as concerns about compromised accuracy, due to side reactions, of another measurement on 2-methyl-10-(10,10-$^2$H$_2$)methylenebicyclo[4.4.0]dec-1-ene.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, 6 table

The QCD equation of state for two flavours at non-zero chemical potential

We present results of a simulation of 2 flavour QCD on a $16^3\times4$ lattice using p4-improved staggered fermions with bare quark mass $m/T=0.4$. Derivatives of the thermodynamic grand canonical partition function $Z(V,T,\mu_u,\mu_d)$ with respect to chemical potentials $\mu_{u,d}$ for different quark flavours are calculated up to sixth order, enabling estimates of the pressure and the quark number density as well as the chiral condensate and various susceptibilities as functions of $\mu_{u,d}$ via Taylor series expansion. Results are compared to high temperature perturbation theory as well as a hadron resonance gas model. We also analyze baryon as well as isospin fluctuations and discuss the relation to the chiral critical point in the QCD phase diagram. We moreover discuss the dependence of the heavy quark free energy on the chemical potential.Comment: 4 pages, 7 figures, talk presented at Quark Matter 2005, Budapes

Attractive Forces Between Electrons in QED3_{3}

Vacuum polarization effects are non-perturbatively incorporated into the photon propagator to eliminate the severe infrared problems characteristic of QED$_3$. The theory is thus rephrased in terms of a massive vector boson whose mass is $e^2/(8\pi)$. Subsequently, it is shown that electron-electron bound states are possible in QED$_3$.Comment: revtex, 10 pages and four figures, IFUSP/P-98

Fluctuations in the vicinity of the phase transition line for two flavor QCD

We study the susceptibilities of quark number, isospin number and electric charge in numerical simulations of lattice QCD at high temperature and density. We discuss the equation of state for 2 flavor QCD at non-zero temperature and density. Derivatives of $\ln Z$ with respect to quark chemical potential $(\mu_q)$ are calculated up to sixth order. From this Taylor series, the susceptibilities are estimated as functions of temperature and $\mu_q$. Moreover, we comment on the hadron resonance gas model, which explains well our simulation results below $T_c$.Comment: 3 pages, 5 figures, Talk presented at Lattice2004(non-zero

Incomplete Dissociation in Solutions of Strong Electrolytes

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/70904/2/JCPSA6-9-3-283-1.pd

Aspects of N=2 Supersymmetric Gauge Theories in Three Dimensions

We consider general aspects of N=2 gauge theories in three dimensions, including their multiplet structure, anomalies and non-renormalization theorems. For U(1) gauge theories, we discuss the quantum corrections to the moduli space, and their relation to ``mirror symmetries'' of 3d N=4 theories. Mirror symmetry is given an interpretation in terms of vortices. For SU(N_c) gauge groups with N_f fundamental flavors, we show that, depending on the number of flavors, there are quantum moduli spaces of vacua with various phenomena near the origin.Comment: 40 pages, harvma

Heavy Quark Free Energies and Screening in SU(2) Gauge Theory

We investigate the singlet, triplet and colour average heavy quark free energies in SU(2) pure gauge theory at various temperatures T. We focus on the long distance behaviour of the free energies, studying in particular the temperature dependence of the string tension and the screening masses. The results are qualitatively similar to the SU(3) scenario, except near the critical temperature Tc of the deconfining transition. Finally we test a recently proposed method to renormalize the Polyakov loop.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, contribution to the Proceedings of SEWM 2002 (Heidelberg

Particle Number Fluctuations in Canonical Ensemble

Fluctuations of charged particle number are studied in the canonical ensemble. In the infinite volume limit the fluctuations in the canonical ensemble are different from the fluctuations in the grand canonical one. Thus, the well-known equivalence of both ensembles for the average quantities does not extend for the fluctuations. In view of a possible relevance of the results for the analysis of fluctuations in nuclear collisions at high energies, a role of the limited kinematical acceptance is studied.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, LaTe