119482928
The electrical conductivity and soft photon emissivity of the QCD plasma
Abstract The electrical conductivity in the hot phase of the QCD plasma is extracted from a quenched lattice measurement of the Euclidean time vector correlator for 1.5 ⩽ T / T c ⩽ 3 . The spectral density in the vicinity of the origin is examined using a method specially adapted to this region, and a peak at small energies is seen. The continuum limit of the electrical conductivity, and the closely related soft photon emissivity of the QCD plasma, are then extracted from a fit to the Fourier transform of the temporal vector correlator.
119431013
A precise determination of T_c in QCD from scaling
Existing lattice data on the QCD phase transition are analyzed in renormalized perturbation theory. In quenched QCD it is found that T_c scales for lattices with only 3 time slices, and that T_c/Lambda_msbar=1.15 \pm 0.05. A preliminary estimate in QCD with two flavours of dynamical quarks shows that this ratio depends on the quark mass. For realistic quark masses we estimate T_c/Lambda_msbar=0.49 \pm 0.02. We also investigate the equation of state in quenched QCD at 1-loop order in renormalised perturbation theory.
123004962
Flavour degrees of freedom and the transition temperature in QCD
We study the finite temperature transition in QCD with four flavours of dynamical quarks. Our simulation is performed on an 8×16 3 lattice for quarks of mass ma=0.01. At the coupling β c =5.15, we find long-lived metastable states, as well as an abrupt change in the entropy density, suggesting a first order phase transition. Using presently available results from corresponding calculations of the hadron masses and the chiral condensate, this gives us a transition temperature T c ≅100 MeV, which is a factor two lower than the transition temperature found in quenched QCD.
121387686
Hybrid Monte Carlo simulations of a two-dimensional gauge theory
Through a study of the dynamics of the two-dimensional U(1) pure gauge theory we find exponential slowing down in barrier penetration problems. We verify that the dynamical critical exponent in HMC can be tuned exactly to 1, and that normal and gauge fixed updates have equal cost.
122166973
The phase diagram of QCD: methods and logic of the comparison of experiments and theory
Abstract A small review of the phase diagram of QCD is presented. This is followed by a discussion of the conditions under which experimental data on the fluctuations of conserved quantities in heavy-ion collisions can be treated in the grand canonical ensemble. A robust method for detecting the presence of a nearby critical point in experiments is given. There is a short discussion of the need for non-Gaussian error analysis.
17443615
Lattice QCD for RHIC
I briefly introduce the methods by which lattice QCD predictions for RHIC are obtained. Next I deal with lattice determinations of strangeness production and event-to-event fluctuations of conserved quantities. I also present a new diagrammatic method for computing derivatives with respect to chemical potentials, and conclude with discussions of some tests of thermal perturbation theory which follow.
128078572
A preshower photon multiplicity detector for the WA93 experiment
Abstract A fine granularity preshower detector has been designed, fabricated and installed in the WA93 experiment for the first ever measurement of photon multiplicity in ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions. Photons are counted by detecting the preshower signal in plastic scintillator pads placed behind a lead converter and applying a threshold on the scintillator signal to reject the minimum ionizing particles. The photon detection efficiency estimated using Monte-Carlo and beam test results is found to be ∼65–75% depending on centrality. Simulation and performance results of the detector for counting of photons and rejection of hadrons in the large multiplicity environment of ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions are described.
118808591
A soluble statistical model for nuclear fragmentation
The statistical model of Chase and Mekjian, which offers an analytic solution for the canonical ensemble of non-interacting fragments, is investigated for it's thermodynamic behavior. Various properties of the model, which exhibits a first-order phase transition, are studied. The effects of finite particle number are investigated. Three extensions of the model are considered, excluded volume, Coulomb effects and inclusion of isospin degrees of freedom. A formulation of a microcanonical version of the model is also presented.
119491515
Negative-parity states in odd-mass lanthanum isotopes
123618858
An experimental system for detection of high energy cosmic gamma ray bursts
Abstract While bursts of cosmic gamma rays of energies 0.1–10 MeV can be detected and studied only with satellite-borne detectors, bursts of gamma rays at GeV energies can be detected using sensitive ground-based detectors. An experimental system to detect these high energy gamma ray bursts is being operated at the mountain altitude laboratory at Ootacamund, India. The design features and the experimental details related to this system are described.
123477095
High-energy pulsed gamma rays from pulsars
Ten pulsars were observed for pulsed emission of gamma rays at energies greater than 500 GeV, using an atmospheric Cerenkov emission technique. Signals at the levels of 3.85 and 3.56 sigmas were detected from PSR 0950+08 and PSR 0531+21 (Crab pulsar), respectively. If the signal from the Crab pulsar is attributed to the main pulse, a further 2.2-sigma signal is found in the same data, precisely at the place predicted for interpulse by the observations on low-energy gamma rays from COS-B satellite. The statistical significance of the results is discussed.