120251899
Estimating the critical point of QCD
This talk discusses methods of extending lattice computations at finite temperature into regions of finite chemical potential, and the conditions under which such results from the lattice may be compared to experiments. Such comparisons away from a critical point are absolutely essential for quantitative use of lattice QCD in heavy-ion physics. An outline of various arguments which can then be used to locate the critical point is also presented.
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.
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.
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.
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.
13890009
Caloric curves for small systems in the nuclear lattice gas model
For pedagogical reasons we compute the caloric curve for 11 particles in a ${3}^{3}$ lattice. Monte Carlo simulation can be avoided and exact results are obtained. We compare canonical and microcanonical results for the caloric curve. Even down to this small system, agreement between the canonical model and the microcanonical model is surprisingly good. We point out that the introduction of kinetic energy in the nuclear lattice gas model modifies the results of the standard lattice gas model in a profound way. The model is also used to test the accuracy of the saddle-point approximation for density of states.
119107758
Peccei-Quinn violating minimal supergravity and a 126 GeV Higgs boson
In a Peccei-Quinn extension of supergravity the h --> \gamma\gamma detection rate can be significantly enhanced due to the reduction of the total Higgs decay width. To assess the viability of various Peccei-Quinn extensions of minimal supergravity we perform a Bayesian analysis on three such scenarios. The main constraints on these models come from the currently observed Higgs boson like state by the Large Hadron Collider and from the WMAP observation of dark matter abundance. Our comparative study reveals that under these constraints the PQ violating scenarios with axino dark matter are clearly preferred over the minimal supegravity model with the lightest neutralino as a dark matter candidate.
123387456
Perturbation of the 360.3-57.6 keV gamma-gamma directional correlation inI127
10159826
Distinguishing split supersymmetry in Higgs signals at the CERN Large Hadron Collider
We examine the possibility of detecting signals of split supersymmetry in the loop-induced decay h{yields}{gamma}{gamma} of the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider, where charginos, as surviving light fermions of the supersymmetric spectrum, can contribute in the loop. We perform a detailed study of uncertainties in various parameters involved in the analysis, and thus the net uncertainty in the standard model prediction of the rate. After a thorough scan of the parameter space, taking all constraints into account, we conclude that it will be very difficult to infer about split supersymmetry from Higgs signals alone.
17387019
Inhomogeneous nucleation in a quark-hadron phase transition
The effect of subcritical hadron bubbles on a first-order quark-hadron phase transition is studied. These subcritical hadron bubbles are created due to thermal fluctuations, and can introduce a finite amount of phase mixing (quark phase mixed with hadron phase) even at and above the critical temperature. For reasonable choices of surface tension and correlation length, as obtained from the lattice QCD calculations, we show that the amount of phase mixing at the critical temperature remains below the percolation threshold. Thus, as the system cools below the critical temperature, the transition proceeds through the nucleation of critical-size hadron bubbles from a metastable quark-gluon phase (QGP), within an inhomogeneous background populated by an equilibrium distribution of subcritical hadron bubbles. The inhomogeneity of the medium results in a substantial reduction of the nucleation barrier for critical bubbles. Using the corrected nucleation barrier, we estimate the amount of supercooling for different parameters controlling the phase transition, and briefly discuss its implications to cosmology and heavy-ion collisions.