Polarized antiquark flavor asymmetry in Drell–Yan pair production

We investigate the role of the flavor asymmetry of the nucleon's polarized antiquark distributions in Drell–Yan lepton pair production in polarized nucleon–nucleon collisions at HERA (fixed–target) and RHIC energies. It is shown that the large polarized antiquark flavor asymmetry predicted by model calculations in the large– limit (chiral quark–soliton model) has a dramatic effect on the double spin asymmetries in high mass lepton pair production, as well as on the single spin asymmetries in lepton pair production through –bosons at . Received: 31 May 2000 / Revised version: 1 December 2000 / Published online: 5 February 2001     

On the determination of the polarized sea distributions of the nucleon

The possibilities to determine the flavor structure of the polarized sea (antiquark) distributions of the nucleon via vector boson production at high energy polarized hadron–hadron colliders, such as the Relativistic Heavy–Ion Collider (RHIC), are studied in detail. In particular the perturbative stability of the expected asymmetries in two representative models for the (un)broken flavor structure are investigated by confronting perturbative QCD leading order predictions of the expected asymmetries with their next–to–leading order counterparts. Received: 28 November 2000 / Published online: 5 February 2001     

Quark potential in a quark–meson plasma

We investigate the effect of the restoration of chiral symmetry on the quark potential in a quark–meson plasma by considering meson exchanges in the two flavor Nambu–Jona-Lasinio model at finite temperature and density. There are two possible oscillations in the chiral restoration phase; one is the Friedel oscillation due to the sharp quark Fermi surface at high density, and the other is the Yukawa oscillation driven by the complex meson poles at high temperature. The quark–meson plasma is strongly coupled in the temperature region 1≤T/T _c≤3, with T _c being the critical temperature of the chiral phase transition. The maximum coupling in this region is located at the phase transition point.     

Single-spin asymmetries for small-angle pion production in high-energy hadron collisions

Within the framework of a simple model, we study single-spin asymmetries for pion production in hadron–hadron collisions at high energies with one hadron polarized. The asymmetries are generated via a mechanism of final- (initial-) state interactions. For peripheral kinematics, we find nonzero asymmetries at the high-energy limit when the pion belongs to the fragmentation region of the polarized proton. Numerical results and comparison with existing experimental data are presented. We also discuss the relationship with Odderon exchange phenomenology. Received: 11 May 1999 / Revised version: 22 July 1999 / Published online: 3 November 1999     

Mechanism of single-spin asymmetries generation in the inclusive hadron processes

We discuss a nonperturbative mechanism for generation of the single-spin asymmetries in hadron interactions. It is based on the chiral quark model combined with unitarity and impact parameter picture and provides explanation for the experimental regularities observed under the measurements of the spin asymmetries.     

Deconfinement transition: a three dimensional model

We present a three–dimensional model for quark matter with a density dependent quark–quark (confining) potential, which allows to describe a sort of deconfinement transition as the system evolves from a low density assembly of bound structures to a high density free Fermi gas of quarks. We consider different confining potentials, some of which successfully utilized in hadron spectroscopy. We find that a proper treatment of the many–body correlations induced by the medium is essential to disentangle the different nature of the two (hadronic and deconfined) phases of the system. For this purpose the ground state energy per particle and the pair correlation function are investigated. Received: 10 June 1998 / Revised version: 24 September 1998     

Spin structure of nucleon

The quark spin content of the nucleons is subjected to constraints implied by sum rules due to global approximate chiral symmetries and perturbativeqcd effects. The model, so obtained, has a large polarisation residing in the flavour singlet constituents of hadron. Predictions for the expected longitudinal and transverse spin asymmetries in deep inelastic lepton-nucleon scattering are made on the basis of the standard form of the electromagnetic and charged weak currents.     

Pentaquarks in chiral soliton models

The spectra of pentaquarks, some of them observed recently, are discussed within the topological soliton model and compared with the simplified quark picture. The results obtained within the chiral soliton model depend to some extent on the quantization scheme: rigid rotator, soft rotator, or bound state model. The similarity of the spectra of baryon resonances obtained within the quark model and the chiral soliton model is pointed out, although certain differences take place as well, which require careful interpretation. In particular, considerable variation of the strange antiquark mass in different SU(3) multiplets of pentaquarks is required to fit their spectra obtained from chiral solitons. Certain difference in the masses of “good” and “bad” diquarks is required as well, in qualitative agreement with previously made estimates. The partners of exotic states with different values of spin which belong to higher SU(3) multiplets have energy considerably higher than the states with the lowest spin, and this could be a point where the difference from simple quark models is striking. The antiflavor excitation energies for multibaryons are estimated as well, and the binding energies of gJ-hypernuclei and anticharm (antibeauty) hypernuclei are presented for several baryon numbers. Some deficiencies are pointed out in the arguments in the literature against the validity of the chiral soliton approach and/or the SU(3) quantization models. Based partly on the talks presented at the International Seminar on High Energy Physics Quarks-2004, Pushkinogorie, Russia, May 24–30, 2004; International Workshop on Quantum Field Theory and High Energy Physics QFTHEP-04, Saint-Petersburg, Russia, June 17–23, 2004, and Symposium of London Mathematical Society “Topological Solitons and their Applications,” Durham, UK, August 2–12, 2004. A slightly reduced version of this paper is available as E-print HEP-PH/0507028. The text was submitted by the author in English.     

Polarized coincidence electroproduction scaling laws for the final state

We study the inclusive electroproduction of single hadrons off a polarized target. Bjorken scaling laws and the hadron azimuthal distribution are derived from the quark parton model.The polarization asymmetries scale when the target spin is along the direction of the virtual photon, and (apart from one significant exception) vanish for transverse spin. These results have a simple explanation; emphasis is given both to the general mathematical formalism and to intuitive physical reasoning.Through this framework we consider other cases: quarks with anomalous magnetic moment; renormalization group effects and asymptotic freedom; production of vector mesons (whose spin state is analysed by their decay); relation to large transverse momentum hadron production; and a covariant parton model calculation. We also look into spin-0 partons and Regge singularities.All of these cases (apart from the last two) modify the pattern of conclusions. Vector meson production shows polarization enhancements in the density matrix element ?₀₊; the renormalization group approach does not lead to any significant suppressions. They are also less severe in parton models for large p_T hadrons, and are not supported by the covariantly formulated calculation. The origins of these differences are isolated and used to exemplify the sensitivity that polarized hadron electroproduction has to delicate detail that is otherwise concealed.     

Quark–hadron phase transition in massive gravity

We study the quark–hadron phase transition in the framework of massive gravity. We show that the modification of the FRW cosmological equations leads to the quark–hadron phase transition in the early massive Universe. Using numerical analysis, we consider that a phase transition based on the chiral symmetry breaking after the electroweak transition, occurred at approximately 10 μs after the Big Bang to convert a plasma of free quarks and gluons into hadrons.     

On the scaling behavior of the chiral phase transition in QCD in finite and infinite volume

We study the scaling behavior of the two-flavor chiral phase transition using an effective quark–meson model. We investigate the transition between infinite-volume and finite-volume scaling behavior when the system is placed in a finite box. We can estimate effects that the finite volume and the explicit symmetry breaking by the current quark masses have on the scaling behavior which is observed in full QCD lattice simulations. The model allows us to explore large quark masses as well as the chiral limit in a wide range of volumes, and extract information about the scaling regimes. In particular, we find large scaling deviations for physical pion masses and significant finite-volume effects for pion masses that are used in current lattice simulations.     

A second look at single-photon production in S + Au collisions at 200 A GeV and implications for quark–hadron phase transition

We reanalyze the production of single photons in S + Au collisions at CERN SPS to investigate: (i) the consequences of using a much richer equation of state for hadrons than the one used in an earlier study by us, and (ii) to see if the recent estimates of photon production in quark matter (at two-loop level) by Aurenche, et al. are consistent with the upper limit of the photon production measured by the WA80 group. We find that the data are consistent with a quark–hadron phase transition. The data are also consistent with a scenario where no phase transition takes place, but where the hadronic matter reaches a density of several hadrons per unit volume, which is rather unphysical. Received: 21 June 1999 / Revised version: 25 August 1999 / Published online: 16 November 1999     

Soliton models for the nucleon and predictions for the nucleon spin structure

In these lectures the three flavor soliton approach for baryons is reviewed. Effects of flavor symmetry breaking in the baryon wave functions on axial current matrix elements are discussed. A bosonized chiral quark model is considered to outline the computation of spin dependent nucleon structure functions in the soliton picture.     

Fragmentation function in non-equilibrium QCD using closed-time path integral formalism

In this paper we implement the Schwinger–Keldysh closed-time path integral formalism in non-equilibrium QCD in accordance to the definition of the Collins–Soper fragmentation function. We consider a high-p _T parton in QCD medium at initial time τ ₀ with an arbitrary non-equilibrium (non-isotropic) distribution function fragmenting to a hadron. We formulate the parton-to-hadron fragmentation function in non-equilibrium QCD in the light-cone quantization formalism. It may be possible to include final-state interactions with the medium via a modification of the Wilson lines in this definition of the non-equilibrium fragmentation function. This may be relevant to the study of hadron production from a quark–gluon plasma at RHIC and LHC.     

Single spin asymmetry for charm mesons

We study single spin asymmetries of D̄⁰ and D^- mesons in polarized proton–proton collisions. A two component model is used to describe charm meson production. The production of D mesons occurs by recombination of the constituents present in the initial state as well as by fragmentation of quarks in the final state. This model has proved to describe the production of charm. The recombination component involves a mechanism of spin alignment that ends up in a single spin asymmetry. Experimental measurements of single spin asymmetry for pions at RHIC are compared with the model. Predictions for the asymmetry in D mesons are presented.     

Polarization and spin effects in neutralino production and decay

We study the production of neutralinos with polarized beams and the subsequent decays and , including the complete spin correlations between production and decay. We present analytical formulae for the differential cross section of the combined process of production and decay of neutralinos. We also allow for complex couplings. The spin correlations have a strong influence on the decay angular distributions and the corresponding forward–backward asymmetries. They are very sensitive to the SUSY parameters and depend strongly on the beam polarizations. We present numerical results for the cross section and the electron forward–backward asymmetry for , . We study the dependence on the parameter for various mass splittings between and and different beam polarizations. Received: 28 March 1999 / Published online: 28 May 1999     

Strangeness enhancement

Highly effective conversion of kinetic energy into abundant particle multiplicity is the remarkable feature discovered in high energy heavy ion collisions. This short and pedagogic review addresses topical issues related to the understanding of this phenomenon, originating in the creation of the deconfined quark–gluon plasma phase. I consider in depth the apparently simple, yet sometimes misunderstood, intricate issues: a) statistical hadro-chemistry, chemical parameters, b) strange flavor chemical equilibration in quark–gluon plasma, and c) particle yields and sudden hadronization, in the historic perspective of work and competition with my friend József Zimányi.     

Spin physics with COMPASS

COMPASS is a fixed target experiment at CERN studying nucleon spin structure in polarised deep inelastic muon nucleon scattering and hadron spectroscopy using hadron beams. The main goal of the COMPASS spin physics program is the measurement of the helicity contribution of the gluons to the nucleon spin, ΔG. This quantity is accessible via the photon-gluon-fusion process which can be selected by open charm production or production of hadron pairs with large transverse momenta. The spin physics program of COMPASS includes also measurements with a transversely polarised target. These allow to measure the transverse structure function.COMPASS has up to now successfully finished three runs with a muon beam of 160 GeV and a longitudinally polarized⁶LiD target in the years 2002, 2003 and 2004. An overview of the physics addressed by the muon program, with an emphasis on the ΔG/G measurement will be presented. The status of the analysis of the highpt hadron pairs, open charm, longitudinal and transverse asymmetries will be reviewed.