Chiral symmetry restoration and properties of Goldstone bosons at finite temperature

We study chiral symmetry restoration by analyzing thermal properties of QCD's(pseudo-) Goldstone bosons, especially the pion. The meson properties are obtained from the spectral densities of mesonic imaginary-time correlation functions. To obtain the correlation functions, we solve the Dyson-Schwinger equations and the inhomogeneous Bethe-Salpeter equations in the leading symmetry-preserving rainbow-ladder approximation. In chiral limit, the pion and its partner sigma degenerate at the critical temperature begin{document}$T_{rm c}$end{document}. At begin{document}$T gtrsim T_{rm c}$end{document}, it was found that the pion rapidly dissociates, which signals deconfinement phase transition. Beyond the chiral limit, the pion dissociation temperature can be used to define the pseudo-critical temperature of the chiral phase crossover, which is consistent with that obtained by the maximum point of chiral susceptibility. A parallel analysis for kaon and pseudoscalar begin{document}$ sbar{s} $end{document} suggests that heavy mesons may survive above begin{document}$T_{rm c}$end{document}.     

Color-flavor dependence of the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model and QCD phase diagram

We study the dynamical chiral symmetry breaking/restoration for various numbers of light quarks flavors \begin{document}$ N_f $\end{document} and colors \begin{document}$ N_c $\end{document} using the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio (NJL) model of quarks in the Schwinger-Dyson equation framework, dressed with a color-flavor dependence of effective coupling. For fixed \begin{document}$ N_f = 2 $\end{document} and varying \begin{document}$ N_c $\end{document}, we observe that the dynamical chiral symmetry is broken when \begin{document}$ N_c $\end{document} exceeds its critical value \begin{document}$ N^{c}_{c}\approx2.2 $\end{document}. For a fixed \begin{document}$ N_c = 3 $\end{document} and varying \begin{document}$ N_f $\end{document}, we observe that the dynamical chiral symmetry is restored when \begin{document}$ N_f $\end{document} reaches its critical value \begin{document}$ N^{c}_{f}\approx8 $\end{document}. Strong interplay is observed between \begin{document}$ N_c $\end{document} and \begin{document}$ N_f $\end{document}, i.e., larger values of \begin{document}$ N_c $\end{document} tend to strengthen the dynamical generated quark mass and quark-antiquark condensate, while higher values of \begin{document}$ N_f $\end{document} suppress both parameters. We further sketch the quantum chromodynamics (QCD) phase diagram at a finite temperature T and quark chemical potential μ for various \begin{document}$ N_c $\end{document} and \begin{document}$ N_f $\end{document}. At finite T and μ, we observe that the critical number of colors \begin{document}$ N^{c}_c $\end{document} is enhanced, whereas the critical number of flavors \begin{document}$ N^{c}_f $\end{document} is suppressed as T and μ increase. Consequently, the critical temperature \begin{document}$ T_c $\end{document}, \begin{document}$ \mu_c $\end{document}, and co-ordinates of the critical endpoint \begin{document}$ (T^{E}_c,\mu^{E}_c) $\end{document} in the QCD phase diagram are enhanced as \begin{document}$ N_c $\end{document} increases and suppressed when \begin{document}$ N_f $\end{document} increases. Our findings agree with the lattice QCD and Schwinger-Dyson equations predictions.     

Density dependence of nucleon radius and mass in the global color symmetry model of QCD with a sophisticated effective gluon propagator

Making use of the global color symmetry model (GCM) at finite chemical potential and with a sophisticated effective gluon propagator, the density dependence of the bag constant, the total energy and the radius of a nucleon in nuclear matter is investigated. A maximal nuclear matter density for the existence of the bag with three quarks confined within is given as about 8 times the normal nuclear matter density. The calculated results indicate that, before the maximal density is reached, the bag constant and the total energy of a nucleon decrease, and the radius of a nucleon increases, with the increasing of the nuclear matter density. As the maximal nuclear matter density is reached, the mass and the bag constant of the nucleon vanish and the radius becomes infinite suddenly. It manifests that a phase transition from nucleons to quarks takes place. Meanwhile, shortening the interaction range among quarks can induce the phase transition to happen easier.     

The numerical prediction of planar viscoelastic contraction flows using the pom–pom model and higher-order finite volume schemes

This study investigates the numerical solution of viscoelastic flows using two contrasting high-order finite volume schemes. We extend our earlier work for Poiseuille flow in a planar channel and the single equation form of the extended pom–pom (SXPP) model [M. Aboubacar, J.P. Aguayo, P.M. Phillips, T.N. Phillips, H.R. Tamaddon-Jahromi, B.A. Snigerev, M.F. Webster, Modelling pom–pom type models with high-order finite volume schemes, J. Non-Newtonian Fluid Mech. 126 (2005) 207–220], to determine steady-state solutions for planar 4:1 sharp contraction flows. The numerical techniques employed are time-stepping algorithms: one of hybrid finite element/volume type, the other of pure finite volume form. The pure finite volume scheme is a staggered-grid cell-centred scheme based on area-weighting and a semi-Lagrangian formulation. This may be implemented on structured or unstructured rectangular grids, utilising backtracking along the solution characteristics in time. For the hybrid scheme, we solve the momentum-continuity equations by a fractional-staged Taylor–Galerkin pressure-correction procedure and invoke a cell-vertex finite volume scheme for the constitutive law. A comparison of the two finite volume approaches is presented, concentrating upon the new features posed by the pom–pom class of models in this context of non-smooth flows. Here, the dominant feature of larger shear and extension in the entry zone influences both stress and stretch, so that larger stretch develops around the re-entrant corner zone as Weissenberg number increases, whilst correspondingly stress levels decline.