Revisiting the vector and axial-vector vacuum susceptibilities

We re-investigate the vector and axial-vector vacuum susceptibilities by taking advantage of the vector and axial-vector Ward–Takahashi identities. We show analytically that, in the chiral limit, the vector vacuum susceptibility is zero and the axial-vector vacuum susceptibility equals three fourths of the square of the pion decay constant. Besides, our analysis reproduces the Weinberg sum rule.     

Jet quenching from soft QCD scattering in the quark–gluon plasma

We show that partons traversing a quark–gluon plasma can lose substantial amounts of energy also by scatterings, and not only through medium-induced radiation as mainly considered previously. Results from Monte Carlo simulations of soft interactions of partons, emerging from a hard scattering, through multiple elastic scatterings on gluons in an expanding relativistic plasma show a sizeable jet quenching which can account for a substantial part of the effect observed in RHIC data.     

Constraining the nuclear gluon distribution in eA processes at RHIC

A systematic determination of the gluon distribution is of fundamental interest in understanding the parton structure of nuclei and the QCD dynamics. Currently, the behavior of this distribution at small x   (high energy) is completely undefined. In this Letter we analyze the possibility of constraining the nuclear effects present in xgA$x{g}_A$ using the inclusive observables which would be measured in the future electron-nucleus collider at RHIC. We demonstrate that the study of nuclear longitudinal and charm structure functions allows to estimate the magnitude of shadowing and antishadowing effects in the nuclear gluon distribution.     

Could saturation effects be visible in a future electron–ion collider?

We expect to observe parton saturation in a future electron–ion collider. In this Letter we discuss this expectation in more detail considering two different models which are in good agreement with the existing experimental data on nuclear structure functions. In particular, we study the predictions of saturation effects in electron–ion collisions at high energies, using a generalization for nuclear targets of the b-CGC model, which describes the ep HERA quite well. We estimate the total, longitudinal and charm structure functions in the dipole picture and compare them with the predictions obtained using collinear factorization and modern sets of nuclear parton distributions. Our results show that inclusive observables are not very useful in the search for saturation effects. In the small x region they are very difficult to disentangle from the predictions of the collinear approaches. This happens mainly because of the large uncertainties in the determination of the nuclear parton distribution functions. On the other hand, our results indicate that the contribution of diffractive processes to the total cross section is about 20% at large A   and small Q²$Q^2$, allowing for a detailed study of diffractive observables. The study of diffractive processes becomes essential to observe parton saturation.     

Role of glueballs in non-perturbative quark–gluon plasma

Discussed is how non-perturbative properties of quark gluon plasma, recently discovered in RHIC experiment, can be related to the change of properties of scalar and pseudoscalar glueballs. We set up a model with the Cornwall–Soni's glueball–gluon interaction, which shows that the pseudoscalar glueball becomes massless above the critical temperature of deconfinement phase transition. This change of properties gives rise to the change of sign of the gluon condensate at T>Tc$T>T_c$. We discuss the other physical consequences resulting from the drastic change of the pseudoscalar glueball mass above the critical temperature.     

Nonlinear dynamics of soft boson collective excitations in hot QCD plasma III: Bremsstrahlung and energy losses

Within the framework of semiclassical approximation a general formalism for deriving an effective current generating bremsstrahlung of arbitrary number of soft gluons (longitudinal or transverse ones) in scattering of higher-energy parton off thermal parton in hot quark-gluon plasma with subsequent extension to two and more scatterers is obtained. For the case of static color centers, an expression for energy loss induced by usual bremsstrahlung of lowest-order with allowance for an effective temperature-induced gluon mass and finite mass of the projectile (heavy quark) is derived. The detailed analysis of contribution to radiation energy loss associated with existence of effective three-gluon vertex induced by hot QCD medium is performed. It is shown that in general, the bremsstrahlung associated with this vertex has no sharp direction (as in the case of usual bremsstrahlung) and therefore here, we can expect an absence of suppression effect due to multiple scattering. For the case of two-color static scattering centers it was shown that the problem of calculation of bremsstrahlung induced by four-gluon hard thermal loop (HTL) vertex correction can be reduced to the problem of the calculation of bremsstrahlung induced by three-gluon HTL correction. It was shown that for limiting value of soft gluon occupation number N_k 1/α_s all higher processes of bremsstrahlung of arbitrary number of soft gluons become of the same order in coupling, and the problem of resummation of all relevant contributions to radiation energy loss of fast parton, arises. An explicit expression for matrix element of two soft gluon bremsstrahlung in small angles approximation is obtained.     

On the probability distribution of the stochastic saturation scale in QCD

It was recently noticed that high-energy scattering processes in QCD have a stochastic nature. An event-by-event scattering amplitude is characterised by a saturation scale which is a random variable. The statistical ensemble of saturation scales formed with all the events is distributed according to a probability law whose cumulants have been recently computed. In this work, we obtain the probability distribution from the cumulants. We prove that it can be considered as Gaussian over a large domain that we specify and our results are confirmed by numerical simulations.     

Nucleon sigma term and quark condensate in nuclear matter

We study the bound-nucleon sigma term and the quark condensate in nuclear matter. In the quark-meson coupling (QMC) model the nuclear correction to the sigma term is small and negative, i.e., it decelerates the decrease of the quark condensate in nuclear matter. However, the quark condensate in nuclear matter is controlled primarily by the scalar-isoscalar σ field. Compared to the leading term, it moderates the decrease more than that of the nuclear sigma term alone at densities around and larger than the normal nuclear-matter density.     

Hadron spectrum in a two-colour baryon-rich medium

The hadron spectrum of SU(2)$\mathrm{SU}(2)$ lattice gauge theory with two flavours of Wilson quark is studied on an ⁸³×16$8^3\times 16$ lattice using all-to-all propagators, with particular emphasis on the dependence on quark chemical potential μ. As μ is increased from zero the diquark states with non-zero baryon number B   respond as expected, while states with B=0$B=0$ remain unaffected, until the onset of non-zero baryon density at μ=mπ/2$\mu =m_{\pi }/2$. Post onset the pi-meson mass increases in accordance with chiral perturbation theory while the rho becomes lighter. In the diquark sector a Goldstone state associated with a superfluid ground state can be identified. A further consequence of superfluidity is an approximate degeneracy between mesons and baryons with the same spacetime and isospin quantum numbers. Finally we find tentative evidence for the binding of states with kaon quantum numbers within the baryonic medium.     

Perturbative chiral violations for domain-wall QCD with improved gauge actions

We investigate, in the framework of perturbation theory at finite Ns$N_s$, the effectiveness of improved gauge actions in suppressing the chiral violations of domain-wall fermions. Our calculations show substantial reductions of the residual mass when it is compared at the same value of the gauge coupling, the largest suppression being obtained when the DBW2 action is used. Similar effects can also be observed for a power-divergent mixing coefficient which is chirally suppressed. No significant reduction instead can be seen in the case of the difference between the vector and axial-vector renormalization constants when improved gauge actions are used in place of the plaquette action. We also find that one-loop perturbation theory is not an adequate tool to carry out comparisons at the same energy scale (of about 2 GeV), and in fact in this case even an enhancement of the chiral violations is frequently obtained.     

Zero mode solutions of quark Dirac equations in QCD as the sources of chirality violating condensates

It is demonstrated, that chirality violating condensates in massless QCD arise from zero mode solutions of Dirac equations in arbitrary gluon fields. Basing of this idea, the model is suggested, which allows one to calculate quark condensate magnetic susceptibilities in the external constant electromagnetic field.     

Can a Chaotic Solution in the QCD Evolution Equation Restrain High-Energy Collider Physics？

We indicate that the random aperiodic oscillation of the gluon distributions in a modified Balitsky -Fadin-Kurae- Lipatov （BFKL） equation has positive Lyapunov exponents. This first example of chaos in QCD evolution equations raises the sudden disappearance of the gluon distributions at a critical small value of the Bjorken variable x and may stop the increase of the new particle events in an ultra high energy hadron collider.     

Low- x QCD physics from RHIC and HERA to the LHC

We present a summary of the physics of gluon saturation and non-linear QCD evolution at small values of the parton momentum fraction x in the proton and nucleus in the context of recent experimental results at HERA and RHIC. The rich physics potential of low-x studies at the LHC, especially in the forward region, is discussed and some benchmark measurements in pp, pA and AA collisions are introduced.     

High density quark matter and the renormalization group in QCD with two and three flavors

We consider the most general four fermion operators in QCD for two and three massless flavors and study their renormalization in the vicinity of the Fermi surface. We show that, asymptotically, the largest coupling corresponds to scalar diquark condensation. Asymptotically the direct and iterated (molecular) instanton interactions become equal. We provide simple arguments for the form of the operators that diagonalize the evolution equations. Some solutions of the flow equations exhibit instabilities arising out of purely repulsive interactions.     

Formation and decay of hadronic resonances in the QGP

Hadronic resonances can play a pivotal role in providing experimental evidence for partial chiral symmetry restoration in the deconfined quark–gluon phase produced at RHIC and the LHC. Their lifetimes, which are comparable to the lifetime of the partonic plasma phase, make them an invaluable tool to study medium modifications to the resonant state due to the chiral transition. In this Letter we show that the heavier, but still abundant, light and strange quark resonances K^∗$K^{\ast }$, ?, Δ   and Λ^∗${\Lambda }^{\ast }$ have large probability to be produced well within the plasma phase due to their short formation times. We demonstrate that, under particular kinematic conditions, these resonances can be formed and will decay inside the partonic state, but still carry sufficient momentum to not interact strongly with the hadronic medium after the QCD phase transition. Thus, K^∗$K^{\ast }$, ?, Δ   and Λ^∗${\Lambda }^{\ast }$ should exhibit the characteristic property modifications which can be attributed to chiral symmetry restoration, such as mass shifts, width broadening or branching ratio modifications.