Diquark condensation in dense adjoint matter

We study SU(2) lattice gauge theory at non-zero chemical potential with one staggered quark flavor in the adjoint representation. In this model the fermion determinant, although real, can be both positive and negative. We have performed numerical simulations using both hybrid Monte Carlo and two-step multibosonic algorithms, the latter being capable of exploring sectors with either determinant sign. We find that the positive determinant sector behaves like a two-flavor theory, with the chiral condensate rotating into a two-flavor diquark condensate for , implying a superfluid ground state. Good agreement is found with analytical predictions made using chiral perturbation theory. In the ‘full’ model there is no sign of either onset of baryon density or diquark condensation for the range of chemical potentials we have considered. The impact of the sign problem has prevented us from exploring the true onset transition and the mode of diquark condensation, if any, for this model. Received: 28 September 2001 / Published online: 23 November 2001     

Strangeness in stellar matter

A protoneutron star is formed immediately after the gravitational collapse of the core of a massive star. At birth, the hot and high density matter in such a star contains a large number of neutrinos trapped during collapse. Trapped neutrinos generally inhibit the presence of exotic matter — hyperons, a kaon condensate, or quarks. However, as the neutrinos diffuse out in about 10–15 s, the threshold for the appearance of strangeness is reduced; hence, the composition and the structure of the star can change significantly. The effect of exotic, negatively-charged, strangeness-bearing components is always to soften the equation of state, and the possibility exists that the star collapses to a black hole at this time. This could explain why no neutron star has yet been seen in the remnant of supernova SN1987A, even though one certainly existed when neutrinos were detected on Feb. 23, 1987. With new generation neutrino detectors it is feasible to test different theoretical scenarios observationally.     

Neutrino interactions in dense stellar matter

Weak-interaction rates play an important role in the birth of neutron stars in core collapse supernova and their subsequent thermal evolution. In this paper, I highlight the role of strong interactions and phase transitions in calculations of neutrino scattering and emission rates in dense stellar matter.Received: 1 November 2002, Published online: 15 July 2003PACS: 13.15.+g Neutrino interactions - 13.20.-v Leptonic and semileptonic decays of mesons - 26.50.+x Nuclear physics aspects of novae, supernovae, and other explosive environments - 26.60.+c Nuclear matter aspects of neutron starsPresent address: Los Alamos National Laboratory, P.O. Box 1663, MS B283, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA     

Quark matter formation in dense stellar objects

It is expected that at very large densities and/or temperatures a quark-hadron phase transition takes place. Lattice QCD calculations at zero baryon density indicate that the transition occurs at T _c ∼ 150–170 MeV. The transition is likely to be second order or a cross over phenomenon. Although not much is known about the density at which the phase transition takes place at small temperatures, it is expected to occur around the nuclear densities of few times nuclear matter density. Also, there is a strong reason to believe that the quark matter formed after the phase transition is in colour superconducting phase. The matter densities in the interior of neutron stars being larger than the nuclear matter density, the neutron star cores may possibly consist of quark matter which may be formed during the collapse of supernova. Starting with the assumption that the quark matter, when formed consists of predominantly u and d quarks, we consider the evolution of s quarks by weak interactions in the present work. The reaction rates and time required to reach the chemical equilibrium are computed here. Our calculations show that the chemical equilibrium is reached in about 10⁻⁷ seconds. Further more during the equilibration process enormous amont of energy is released and copious numbers of neutrinos are produced. Implications of these on the evolution of supernovae will be discussed.     

Adiabatic index of hot dense stellar matter

We calculate the adiabatic index of hot dense stellar matter taking into account the full nuclear interaction in all possible channels.     

Charmed Baryon in Diquark Model

A diquark model is used to investigate single-charmed baryons.In this model,baryon is composed of two diquarks and an antiquark.Masses of lowest lying states with J~P=1/2~(±) are obtained.Baryons in our results are as heavy as other theoretic predictions and we suggest that the five-quark components should be considered in any three-quark model for studying the charmed baryons.     

Diquark correlations in the proton

The colour-magnetic interaction of quantum chromodynamics with a smearing function found from the fit to the - splitting is strong enough to support a bound state of a singletqq pair. We examine the possibility that this interaction leads to short-range quark-quark correlations in light baryons there-by providing the dynamical mechanism for a quark-diquark picture of the proton. In particular, we show that the correlation function of a singlet diquark in the proton is strongly enhanced at the origin (compared to that for the triplet diquark) with the correlation radiusr ₀, a typical cut-off radius in the spin interaction. The Fourier transform of the correlation function, which is related to the dependence on the momentum transfer of the structure functions in inclusive electron-proton scattering, may provide quite fundamental information on the diquark structure of the proton.     

Diquark correlations in the nucleon

We investigate the structure of the nucleon and the Δ resonance employing a constituent chiral quark model. We propose a variational approach which allows the nucleon to have a [21] flavor-spin symmetry as well as the usual [3] symmetry. This means one gives also up the requirement that the spatial wave function must be symmetric [3]. One then has also to admix the [21] spatial symmetry for a total antisymmetrization and thus one allows quark-diquark correlations, where two quarks are more closely bound than the other two possible pairs. It is found that a quark pair with isospin T = 0 and spin S = 0 in the nucleon becomes spatially very close compared with other pairs in order to gain a strong attraction due to the pion exchange in the chiral quark model, which implies a diquark correlation in the nucleon. We also calculate the proton and neutron charge square radii.     

Sound velocity in dense stellar matter with strangeness and compact stars

The phase state of dense matter in the intermediate density range (\begin{document}$\sim$\end{document}1-10 times the nuclear saturation density) is both intriguing and unclear and can have important observable effects in the present gravitational wave era of neutron stars. As matter density increases in compact stars, the sound velocity is expected to approach the conformal limit (\begin{document}$c_s/c=1/\sqrt{3}$\end{document}) at high densities and should also fulfill the causality limit (\begin{document}$c_s/c<1$\end{document}). However, its detailed behavior remains a prominent topic of debate. It was suggested that the sound velocity of dense matter could be an important indicator of a deconfinement phase transition, where a particular shape might be expected for its density dependence. In this work, we explore the general properties of the sound velocity and the adiabatic index of dense matter in hybrid stars as well as in neutron stars and quark stars. Various conditions are employed for the hadron-quark phase transition with varying interface tension. We find that the expected behavior of the sound velocity can also be achieved by the nonperturbative properties of the quark phase, in addition to a deconfinement phase transition. Moreover, it leads to a more compact star with a similar mass. We then propose a new class of quark star equation of states, which can be tested by future high-precision radius measurements of pulsar-like objects.     

Diquark confinement in an extended NJL model

In a Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model supplemented with an infrared cutoff in addition to the ultraviolet cutoff we study the issue whether diquarks are confined when the model is extended beyond the rainbow-ladder approximation. The gap equation, obtained in a truncation scheme motivated via a non-trivial quark-gluon vertex function, is solved to determine the constituent quark mass if chiral symmetry is spontaneously broken. In a second step, the Bethe-Salpeter equations for mesons and diquarks beyond the ladder approximation are derived, taking care to preserve Goldstone's theorem in the pion channel. While the obtained masses of pseudo-scalar and vector mesons are only moderately shifted compared to the values in the ladder approximation, we observe that scalar diquarks disappear from the physical spectrum and therefore are confined. For axial-vector diquarks we observe indications that the same mechanism may also work, but the NJL model allows no conclusive answer in this channel.     

Asymmetric dark matter abundance including non-thermal production

We investigate the relic abundance of asymmetric dark matter where the asymmetric dark matter is non–thermally produced from the decay of heavier particles in addition to the usual thermal production. We discuss the relic density of asymmetric dark matter including the decay of heavy particles in low-temperature scenarios. Here, we still assume that the Universe is radiationdominated and there is asymmetry before the decay of heavy particles. We obtain an increased abundance of asymmetric dark m...     

Diquark breakup in high-energy neutrino interactions

We examine the experimental tests and theoretical predictions for diquark breakup in high-energy neutrino interactions. Most tests of diquark breakup are found to be inconclusive and the only compelling evidence comes from lambda production in νp interactions.     

Diquark production inep collisions

We examine the production of single diquarks (D) and diquark pairs \((D\bar D)\) inep collisions using the effective photon approximation. Cross-sections for both mechanisms are found to be quite sensitive to the assumed charged of the diquark but can lead to significant production rates in all cases at HERA and futureep colliders. Backgrounds from QCD jet production are found to be potentially significant in the case of singleD production where the signal to background is approximately one-to-one whereas the production of \(D\bar D\) pairs is relatively back-ground free.     

Diquark clustering and the neutron charge radius

We show that a quark-diquark model previously introduced to explainSU(6) violations in quasi-two-body reactions is also able to accomodate a (quantitative) interpretation of the negative charge radius of the neutron, provided one uses appropriate hypotheses for the confinements (c.q. sizes) of the quarks and diquarks involved. They effectively imply the existence of a nucleon core (i.e. a massive two-quark state of substantial spatial clustering) with zero spin and zero isospin.     

Non-perturbative effect on thermal relic abundance of dark matter

We point out that thermal relic abundance of the dark matter is strongly altered by a non-perturbative effect called the Sommerfeld enhancement, when constituent particles of the dark matter are non-singlet under the SU(2)_L gauge interaction and much heavier than the weak gauge bosons. Typical candidates for such dark matter particles are the heavy wino- and higgsino-like neutralinos. We investigate the non-perturbative effect on the relic abundance of dark matter for the wino-like neutralino as an example. We show that its thermal abundance is reduced by 50% compared to the perturbative result. The wino-like neutralino mass consistent with the observed dark matter abundance turns out to be 2.7 TeV?m?3.0 TeV$2.7\text{TeV}?m?3.0\text{TeV}$.     

Dark matter and the first stars: a new phase of stellar evolution

A mechanism is identified whereby dark matter (DM) in protostellar halos dramatically alters the current theoretical framework for the formation of the first stars. Heat from neutralino DM annihilation is shown to overwhelm any cooling mechanism, consequently impeding the star formation process and possibly leading to a new stellar phase. A "dark star" may result: a giant ( greater, similar 1 AU) hydrogen-helium star powered by DM annihilation instead of nuclear fusion. Observational consequences are discussed.     

Diquark model for protonium annihilation into two mesons

An effective diquark model is constructed for protonium annihilation into two meons. Branching ratios are calculated and compared with experimental data. The agreement is within two standard deviations.