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.
21268625
Search for signals from Cygnus X-3 at energies above 50 TeV.
Upper limits for the time-averaged flux of air showers from the direction of Cygnus X-3 during the calendar period 2 April 1986 to 3 May 1987 are found to be 1.5 x 10/sup -13/ cm/sup -2/ sec/sup -1/ for all events, and 7.6 x 10/sup -14/ cm/sup -2/ sec/sup -1/ for events with no observed muons in a 44-m/sup 2/ muon detector. These are integral fluxes above 50 TeV on the assumption of an E/sup -1/ primary spectrum. A possible observation of a short-term signal from Cygnus X-3, with an anomalous muon content, phase correlated with the 4.8-h orbital period, with an integral flux above 50 TeV of (8.2 +- 2.0) x 10/sup -13/ cm/sup -2/ sec/sup -1/ is also reported.
13571448
Apparent and Actual Shifts in Mass and Width of ϕ Mesons Produced in Heavy-Ion Collisions
We present a method of analyzing invariant-mass spectra of kaon pairs resulting from decay of ϕ mesons produced in high-energy heavy-ion collisions. It can be used to extract the shifts in the mass and the width (ΔM and ΔΓ) of the ϕ mesons when they are inside the dense matter formed in these collisions. We illustrate our method with the help of available preliminary data. Extracted values of ΔM and ΔΓ are significantly larger than those obtained with an earlier method. Our results are consistent with the experimentally observed pT dependence of the mass shift. Finally, we present a phenomenological relation between ΔM and ΔΓ. It provides a useful constraint on theories which predict the values of these two quantities.
124703371
FEL ACTIVITIES IN INDIA
We are building a Compact Ultrafast TErahertz FreeElectron Laser (CUTE-FEL), designed to lase from 50 – 100 μm. The FEL will be driven by a 10-15 MeV electron beam from a Plane-Wave Transformer (PWT) linac. The undulator is a 5 cm period, 2.5 m long PPM planar undulator. We present details of the FEL design and the present status of activities. We also present very preliminary plans for a short-wavelength SASE FEL in India.
30676639
Ultrahigh-energy pulsed emission from Hercules X-1 with anomalous air-shower muon production.
A search for bursts of air-shower events from Hercules X-1 at energies above 50 TeV during the calendar period 2 April 1986 to 5 July 1987 yielded two significant bursts, both occurring on UT 24 July 1986. The events during these bursts were pulsed with a period of 1.235 68 s, significantly different from estimates of the contemporaneous x-ray period. The probability that this represents random statistical fluctuations of the background is estimated to be 2 \ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{} ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}5}$. The muon content of the burst events is anomalous when compared with expectations from $\ensuremath{\gamma}$-ray showers.
331919
Monte Carlo code G3sim for simulation of plastic scintillator detectors with wavelength shifter fiber readout.
A detailed description of a compact Monte Carlo simulation code "G3sim" for studying the performance of a plastic scintillator detector with wavelength shifter (WLS) fiber readout is presented. G3sim was developed for optimizing the design of new scintillator detectors used in the GRAPES-3 extensive air shower experiment. Propagation of the blue photons produced by the passage of relativistic charged particles in the scintillator is treated by incorporating the absorption, total internal, and diffuse reflections. Capture of blue photons by the WLS fibers and subsequent re-emission of longer wavelength green photons is appropriately treated. The trapping and propagation of green photons inside the WLS fiber is treated using the laws of optics for meridional and skew rays. Propagation time of each photon is taken into account for the generation of the electrical signal at the photomultiplier. A comparison of the results from G3sim with the performance of a prototype scintillator detector showed an excellent agreement between the simulated and measured properties. The simulation results can be parametrized in terms of exponential functions providing a deeper insight into the functioning of these versatile detectors. G3sim can be used to aid the design and optimize the performance of scintillator detectors prior to actual fabrication that may result in a considerable saving of time, labor, and money spent.
41160767
Chiral dynamics in QCD at finite chemical potential
We present the renormalized Taylor expansion of the chiral condensate with chemical potential. The relation with the Taylor coefficients of meson susceptibilities and the quark mass dependence of the quark number susceptibilities are obtained through chiral Ward identities and Maxwell relations. The continuum limit is obtained in quenched and two flavor QCD. In N{sub f}=2 QCD, the quadratic response coefficients of the chiral condensate to chemical potential indicate that pion fluctuations decrease at finite chemical potential toward the critical end point. We discuss how these observables can be used to test other features of the QCD phase diagram.
119118215
AUGMENTED SUPERFIELD APPROACH TO NON-YANG–MILLS SYMMETRIES OF JACKIW–PI MODEL: NOVEL OBSERVATIONS
We derive the off-shell nilpotent and absolutely anti-commuting Becchi–Rouet–Stora–Tyutin (BRST) as well as anti-BRST symmetry transformations corresponding to the non-Yang–Mills (NYM) symmetry transformations of (2+1)-dimensional Jackiw–Pi (JP) model within the framework of "augmented" superfield formalism. The Curci–Ferrari (CF) restriction, which is a hallmark of non-Abelian one-form gauge theories, does not appear in this case. One of the novel features of our present investigation is the derivation of proper (anti-)BRST symmetry transformations corresponding to the auxiliary field ρ that cannot be derived by any conventional means.
121188687
Basic canonical brackets in the gauge field theoretic models for the Hodge theory
49270375
The correlation lengths and the order of the phase transition in three-dimensional Z 3 symmetric models
We present a high statistics Monte Carlo investigation of three-dimensional Z 3 symmetric models, which are related to SU(3) pure gauge theory at finite temperature. From the finite size scaling behaviour of bulk properties and the existence of metastable states, we conclude that these models exhibit a first-order phase transition. We have also performed detailed correlation length measurements in a cylindrical geometry with periodic boundary conditions as well as with a cold wall in the longitudinal direction. The correlation length, which appears to be independent of the boundary conditions, becomes very large near the critical point. Nonetheless, our data suggest that the correlation length developes a discontinuity at the critical point in the infinite volume limit.
54084723
Tracking the phase-transition energy in the disassembly of hot nuclei
In efforts to determine phase transitions in the disintegration of highly excited heavy nuclei, a popular practice is to parametrise the yields of isotopes as a function of temperature in the form $Y(z)=z^{-\tau}f(z^{\sigma}(T-T_0))$, where $Y(z)$'s are the measured yields and $\tau, \sigma$ and $T_0$ are fitted to the yields. Here $T_0$ would be interpreted as the phase transition temperature. For finite systems such as those obtained in nuclear collisions, this parametrisation is only approximate and hence allows for extraction of $T_0$ in more than one way. In this work we look in detail at how values of $T_0$ differ, depending on methods of extraction. It should be mentioned that for finite systems, this approximate parametrisation works not only at the critical point, but also for first order phase transitions (at least in some models). Thus the approximate fit is no guarantee that one is seeing a critical phenomenon. A different but more conventional search for the nuclear phase transition would look for a maximum in the specific heat as a function of temperature $T_2$. In this case $T_2$ is interpreted as the phase transition temperature. Ideally $T_0$ and $T_2$ would coincide. We invesigate this possibility, both in theory and from the ISiS data, performing both canonical ($T$) and microcanonical ($e=E^*/A$) calculations. Although more than one value of $T_0$ can be extracted from the approximate parmetrisation, the work here points to the best value from among the choices. Several interesting results, seen in theoretical calculations, are borne out in experiment.