120839331
The critical point of quantum chromodynamics through lattice and experiment
Abstract.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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
116159225
Upper Limit on the Diffuse Gamma Ray Flux Using Air Shower Observations at Ooty
14808043
Dynamical growth of the hadron bubbles during the quark hadron phase transition
The rate of dynamical growth of the hadron bubbles in a supercooled baryon free quark-gluon plasma is evaluated by solving the equations of relativistic fluid dynamics in all regions. For a nonviscous plasma, this dynamical growth rate is found to depend only on the range of correlation $\ensuremath{\xi}$ of order parameter fluctuation, and the radius R of the critical hadron bubble, the two length scales relevant for the description of the critical phenomena. Further, it is shown that the dynamical prefactor acquires an additive component when the medium becomes viscous. Interestingly, under certain reasonable assumptions for the velocity of the sound in the medium around the saddle configuration, the viscous and the nonviscous parts of the prefactor are found to be similiar to the results obtained by Csernai and Kapusta and Ruggeri and Friedman (for the case of zero viscosity), respectively.
14927510
A Transport Model for Nuclear Reactions Induced by Radioactive Beams
Major ingredients of an isospin and momentum dependent transport model for nuclear reactions induced by radioactive beams are outlined. Within the IBUU04 version of this model we study several experimental probes of the equation of state of neutron‐rich matter, especially the density dependence of the nuclear symmetry energy. Comparing with the recent experimental data from NSCL/MSU on isospin diffusion, we found a nuclear symmetry energy of Esym(ρ) ≈ 31.6(ρ/ρ0)1.05 at subnormal densities. Predictions on several observables sensitive to the density dependence of the symmetry energy at supranormal densities accessible at GSI and the planned Rare Isotope Accelerator (RIA) are also made.
118546976
Exploring the lattice gas model for isoscaling
Abstract Isotopic spin dependent lattice gas model is used to examine if it produces the isoscaling behaviour seen in intermediate energy heavy ion collisions. Qualitative features are reproduced but quantitative agreement with experiments is lacking.