Strongly coupled massive QCD3 and frustrated Heisenberg antiferromagnets: fractional statistics and chiral-spin order

Strongly coupled massive SU(N_C) and U(N_C) QCD₃ on a lattice is studied using the 1/N_C expansion. The quark mass terms have a definite sign in the present model, and therefore the system explicitly breaks the parity symmetry. The continuum counterpart generates the Maxwell + Chern-Simons theory by integrating out the quark field. In the present paper, we shall integrate out the gauge fields using the strong-coupling expansion and obtain a frustrated quantum Heisenberg model as an effective model. The ground state of the above effective quantum spin model is studied using the large-N_C approximation. There are two phases; one is a Neel-ordered state and the other is a state with a chiral-spin order. It is explicitly shown that the chiral-spin ordered state corresponds to a state with spontaneous generation of color magnetic flux in the original theory and fractional statistics appears in that phase. This result strongly suggests that there are (at least) two phases in the massive QCD₃ and Maxwell-CS theory. One is the confinement phase and the other is the perturbative deconfinement phase with fractional-statistics excitations.     

A QCD analysis of the 〈p2T〉 behaviour observed in recent semi-inclusive neutrino data

Relying on a recent recalculation of the β-function in massive QCD, we show that a theory with infinitely many quark flavors is asymptotically free if the quark masses grow as m_n² = n^σM₀², 1 < σ ? 3.6; the precise definition of the (via the three-gluon vertex) enters in an essential way. In these models the running coupling constant decays like an inverse power of Q² as Q² → ∞. Some phenomenological implications of this curious result are discussed.     

Finite-size effects in the Gross-Neveu model with allowance for isospin and baryon chemical potentials

The properties of the (1 + 1)-dimensional massless Gross-Neveu model were studied for a compactified space S ¹, as well as with allowance for nonzero values of the baryon (µ) and isospin (µ _I ) chemical potentials. Our investigation was performed in the limit of a large number of fermion colors, N _c . It is shown that, for L→∞(case of an unbounded volume), the pion-condensation phase characterized by zero quark density is formed at any nonzero value of µ _I and a small value of µ. For any finite value of L (case of a bounded volume), the phase portrait of the model contains a pion-condensation phase where the quark density is nonzero. Thus, finite dimensions of the system being considered may serve as a factor that facilitates the formation of a pion-condensation phase in quark matter with a nonzero baryon density. At the same time, the phase where chiral symmetry is broken may exist only at very large values of L.     

Is heavy lepton pair production on nuclei really independent of nuclear size?

We investigate the nuclear size dependence of the distribution of massive lepton pairs produced by hadronic beams. Our principle conclusion is that <p ² _T > of the lepton pair should have a substantial and readily observable component from nuclear rescattering even though the nuclear enhancement exponent α(p _T ) lies within present experimental limits. We indicate the relevance of these effects to the study of quark propagation through nuclear matter.     

Core collapse supernovae in the QCD phase diagram

We compare two classes of hybrid equations of state with a hadron-to-quark matter phase transition in their application to core collapse supernova simulations. The first one uses the quark bag model and describes the transition to three-flavor quark matter at low critical densities. The second one employs a Polyakov-loop extended Nambu-Jona-Lasinio (PNJL) model with parameters describing a phase transition to two-flavor quark matter at higher critical densities. These models possess a distinctly different temperature dependence of their transition densities which turns out to be crucial for the possible appearance of quark matter in supernova cores. During the early post-bounce accretion phase quark matter is found only if the phase transition takes place at sufficiently low densities as in the study based on the bag model. The increase critical density with increasing temperature, as obtained for our PNJL parametrization, prevents the formation of quark matter. The further evolution of the core collapse supernova as obtained applying the quark bag model leads to a structural reconfiguration of the central protoneutron star where, in addition to a massive pure quark matter core, a strong hydrodynamic shock wave forms and a second neutrino burst is released during the shock propagation across the neutrinospheres. We discuss the severe constraints in the freedom of choice of quark matter models and their parametrization due to the recently observed 2M _?? pulsar and their implications for further studies of core collapse supernovae in the QCD phase diagram.     

BCS Theory of Hadronic Matter at High Densities

The equilibrium between the so-called 2SC and CFL phases of strange quark matter at high densities is investigated in the framework of a simple schematic model of the NJL type. Equal densities are assumed for quarks u,d and s. The 2SC phase is here described by a color-flavor symmetric state, in which the quark numbers are independent of the color-flavor combination. In the CFL phase the quark numbers depend on the color-flavor combination, that is, the number of quarks associated with the color-flavor combinations ur,dg,sb is different from the number of quarks associated with the color flavor combinations ug,ub,dr,db,sr,sg. We find that the 2SC phase is stable for a chemical potential μ below μ _c ?=?0.505 GeV, while the CFL phase is stable above, the equilibrium pressure being P _c ?=?0.003 GeV⁴. We have used a 3-momentum regularizing cutoff Λ?=?0.8 GeV, which is somewhat larger than is usual in NJL type models. This should be adequate if the relevant chemical potential does not exceed 0.6 GeV.     

Cosmological quark-hadron phase transition and formation of isothermal density fluctuations

The dynamical process of the cosmological quark-hadron phase transition is investigated under the assumption of a weakly first-order phase transition. In particular the characteristic mass of these nuggets is determined to be smaller than 10¹⁹ g, using a spatial correlation function of the trapped quark phase. Furthermore, the possibility of these nuggets being left as isothermal baryonic clouds with very high density (δϱ_b/ϱ_b ∼ 5.0×10¹²) after evaporation is pointed out, and its cosmological implications are discussed.     

Longitudinal contribution to the alignment polarization of quarks produced in e+ e−-annihilation: an O(αs) effect

We calculate the longitudinal contribution to the alignment polarization P ^l of quarks produced in e ⁺ e ^? annihilation. In the Standard Model, the longitudinal alignment polarization vanishes at the Born term level and thus receives its first non-zero contribution from the O(α_s) tree graph process. We provide analytical and numerical results for the longitudinal alignment polarization of massless and massive quarks, in particular for the recently discovered top quark.     

Calculation of the pseudoscalar masses from a QCD effective potential

We calculate the effective two-loop potential of QCD with massive quarks in the CJT composite operator formalism. To perform the wave-function renormalization of composite operators we are lead to a condition which corresponds to the Adler-Dashen requirement in the limit of vanishing quark masses. The condition also assures absence of spontaneous breaking of parity. Pseudoscalar masses are calculated from the second derivatives of the effective potential, and a fit is obtained for quark masses m_u = 3.6 MeV, m_d = 7 MeV, m_s = 152 MeV. We also comment on consistuent quark masses and on the effect of heavy quarks.     

Heavy and heavy to light quark expansions

We analyze the phenomenon of heavy quark condensation within the framework of the QCD sum rule approach. We discuss two alternative expansions for massive quark condensates. The first one (heavy to light quark expansion), introduced by Broadhurst and Generalis, establishes a connection between the heavy and light quark worlds. The other one (heavy quark expansion) is valid when only heavy quark systems are considered. As a byproduct we have obtained the coefficients of \(\left\langle {\bar qq} \right\rangle \) , \(\left\langle {\bar qGq} \right\rangle \) , 〈G ²〉 and 〈G ³〉 for all bilinear currents.     

Leading logarithms of heavy quark masses in processes with light and heavy quarks

The matrix elements of operators containing both heavy quark (Q) and light quark (q) fields can contain large logarithms of the type ln(m_Q²/μ²), where μ is a typical QCD mass scale and m_Q is the heavy quark mass. We outline a method for summing leading logarithms of this type. We apply it to the decay constant f_M of a low lying pseudoscalar meson M with Q̄q flavor quantum numbers and predict the ratios of decay constants for mesons with different heavy flavors. We also apply it to a matrix element of a four-quark operator which is relevant for B⁰−B̄⁰ mixing.     

Stars of strange matter?

We investigate suggestions that quark matter with strangeness per baryon of order unity may be stable. We model this matter at nuclear matter densities as a gas of close packed Λ-particles. From the known mass of the Λ-particle we obtain an estimate of the energy and chemical potential of strange matter at nuclear densities. These are sufficiently high to preclude any phase transition from neutron matter to strange matter in the region near nucleon matter density. Including effects from gluon exchange phenomenologically, we investigate higher densities, consistently making approximations which underestimate the density of transition. In this way we find a transition density ρ_tr≳7ρ₀, where ρ₀ is nuclear matter density is not far from the maximum density in the center of the most massive neutron stars that can be constructed. Since we have underestimated ρ_tr and still find it to be ∼7ρ₀, we do not believe that the transition from neutron to quark matter is likely in neutron stars. Moreover, measured masses of observed neutron stars are ≅1.4 M_⊙, where M_⊙ is the solar mass. For such masses, the central (maximum) density is ρ_c<5ρ₀. Transition to quark matter is certainly excluded for these densities.     

Instantons and meson correlation functions in QCD

Various QCD correlators are calculated in the instanton liquid model in zeromode approximation and 1/N _c expansion. Previous works are extended by including dynamical quark loops. In contrast to the original “perturbative” 1/N _c approximation, not all quark loops are suppressed. Renormalization of the instanton density allows the identification of the density with the gluon condensate even in presence of dynamical quark loops. In the flavor singlet meson correlators a chain of quark bubbles survives the N _c → ∞ limit causing a massive η′ in the pseudoscalar correlator while keeping massless pions in the triplet correlator. The correlators are plotted and meson masses and couplings are obtained from a spectral fit. They are compared to the values obtained from numerical studies of the instanton liquid and to experimental results.     

Quark cluster model and the R-matrix theory treatment of NN scattering

A microscopic quark cluster model has been developed for six-quark states consisting of two s³ quark clusters. The consequences of channel nonorthogonality and existence of Pauliforbidden states are investigated explicitly by solving the eigenvalue problem of the resonating group method (RGM) kernel. Since the RGM kernels needed are all available, the form of the six-quark states given in this paper is very suited to detailed RGM calculations. A rigorous treatment based on the R-matrix theory has been carried out to obtain NN phase shifts. The spin-spin term of the quark-quark interaction favors states of higher color-spin symmetry. This explains the larger change caused by the hidden color states in the ³S₁ phase shifts than in the ¹S₀ phase shifts. Phase shifts calculated with inclusion of the delta and hidden color states are still too repulsive. It is pointed out that there arises a subtle problem in adding the one-boson exchange potential by hand to the RGM equation.     

Screening of instantons in the quark gas

The grand partition function of quark matter is developed about an arbitrary classical gauge field configuration in a systematic weak coupling expansion. In the presence of a finite density massless quark gas the instanton induced effective quark interaction is modified by a factor exp[?2N_F(ω?)²], i.e. the baryon number chemical potential μ acts as an intrinsic infrared cutoff on the instanton scale size ?. The equation of state of the quark matter is also briefly discussed.     

Quasiparticle picture of quarks near chiral phase transition

We study how the quasiparticle picture of the quark can be modified near but above the critical temperature (T _c) of the chiral phase transition; we incorporate into the quark self-energy the effects of the precursory soft modes of the phase transition, i.e. ‘para-σ(π) meson’. It is found that the quark spectrum has a three-peak structure near T _c: We show that the additional new spectra originate from the mixing between a quark (antiquark) and an antiquark-hole (quark-hole) caused by a “resonant scattering” of the quasi-fermions with the thermally-excited soft modes.     

Forward-backward asymmetry in top quark semileptonic decay

The semileptonic decay of the top quark t → bW⁺ → bl⁺ν_l is analyzed in the rest system of the W. The forward-backward asymmetry of the lepton l⁺ with respect to the heavy quark direction is defined and computed. It is argued that this observable will be an ideal tool to study top quark properties at Tevatron and LHC. Higher order QCD corrections are calculated and their structure is elucidated in some detail.     

Masterfields and the phases of quantum chromodynamics in two dimensions with fermions

The phase structure of two-dimensional quantum chromodynamics is analyzed in the large-N limit. Using a variational approximation, we show that a first-order phase transition occurs as the quark bare mass squared m₀² is made less than $\text{g}{}^2\text{N}\text{π}$. This novel phase structure goes beyond summing the perturbative large-N planar graphs.     

Pion properties at finite isospin chemical potential with isospin symmetry breaking

Pion properties at finite temperature, finite isospin and baryon chemical potentials are investigated within the SU(2) NJL model. In the mean field approximation for quarks and random phase approximation fpr mesons, we calculate the pion mass, the decay constant and the phase diagram with different quark masses for the u quark and d quark, related to QCD corrections, for the first time. Our results show an asymmetry between μI 0 and μI 0 in the phase diagram, and different values for the charged pion mass(or decay constant) and neutral pion mass(or decay constant) at finite temperature and finite isospin chemical potential. This is caused by the effect of isospin symmetry breaking, which is from different quark masses.     

Domain growth in chiral phase transitions

We study the kinetics of chiral phase transitions in quark matter. We discuss the phase diagram of this system in both a microscopic framework (using the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model) and a phenomenological framework (using the Landau free energy). Then, we study the far-from-equilibrium coarsening dynamics subsequent to a quench from the chirally-symmetric phase to the massive quark phase. Depending on the nature of the quench, the system evolves via either spinodal decomposition or nucleation and growth. The morphology of the ordering system is characterized using the order-parameter correlation function, structure factor, domain growth laws, etc.