Direct photon measurement at RHIC-PHENIX

Results on direct photon measurements from the PHENIX experiment at RHIC are presented. The direct photon yields for P _T >6GeV/c as a function of centrality in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt {s_{NN} } = 200$ GeV are found to be consistent with NLO pQCD calculation scaled by the number of binary collisions. The results suggest that the photons observed are emitted from the initial stage of hard scattering. Comparisons with several theoretical calculations are also presented.     

Search for diquark substructures in charmed baryon spectroscopy

We suggest that the present experimental evidence for two Λ_c⁺ mass levels may have a deep physical significance and can be taken as the first hint of (cu) and (cd) diquark substructures within the baryon.     

Search for missing baryon resonances via associated strangeness photoproduction

Differential cross-section and single polarization observables in the process γp→K ⁺ Λ are investigated within a constituent-quark model and a dynamical coupled-channel formalism. The effects of two new nucleon resonances and of the K ^*(892)- and K1(1270)-exchanges are briefly presented.     

Search for non-strange exotic mesons produced via baryon exchange

Negative results on backward production, via baryon exchange, of exotic non-strange mesons are presented. The reactions π^?p→p_forwardX^?and π^?n→ p_forwardX^?? have been studied with a 12 GeV/cπ^? beam in the Omega spectrometer at CERN. No resonant peak in $\text{X}\text{→}\text{p}\text{p}\text{π}{}^{\mathrm{?}}\text{,}\text{p}\text{p}\text{π}{}^{\mathrm{?}}\text{π}{}^{\mathrm{?}}\text{,}\text{p}\text{p}\text{π}{}^{\mathrm{?}}\text{π}{}^0\text{,π}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{π}{}^{\mathrm{?}}\text{π}{}^{\mathrm{?}}\text{π}{}^0$ has been seen. The upper limits obtained on cross sections for exotic meson production $\text{X}\text{→}\text{N}\text{N}\text{π,}\text{N}\text{N}\text{π, 4π}$ are lower than the ?^? backward production cross section in the π^?p→p?^? reaction; this result seems to contradict the predictions of the two-component duality model. Compared to already published experiments in the search for exotics produced via baryon exchange, the sensitivity of this experiment is increased by an order of magnitude.     

Beam energy dependence of azimuthal anisotropy at RHIC-PHENIX

Recent PHENIX measurements of the elliptic (?? ₂) and hexadecapole (?? ₄) Fourier flow coefficients for charged hadrons as a function of transverse momentum (p _T ), collision centrality and particle species are presented and compared with results from the PHOBOS and STAR Collaborations respectively. The status of extensions to future PHENIX measurements at lower beam energies is also discussed.     

Search for the critical point and the onset of deconfinement

A review of the current experimental situation on the search for a critical point in the QCD phase diagram and the onset of deconfinement is given. Ongoing (STAR, NA61), as well as previous (NA49) experiments are presented. Their main results up-to-now are summarized and their findings are put into a general context. The future experimental program (CBM at FAIR, MPD at NICA) is discussed as well.     

New Horizons and the onset of the Pioneer anomaly

Analysis of the radio tracking data from the Pioneer 10/11 spacecraft at distances between about 20–70 AU from the Sun has indicated the presence of an unmodeled, small, constant, Doppler blue shift which can be interpreted as a constant acceleration of aP=(8.74±1.33)×¹⁰⁻⁸ cm/s²$a_P=(8.74\pm 1.33)\times {10}^{\mathrm{-8}}\text{ cm}/{\text{s}}^2$ directed approximately towards the Sun. In addition, there is early (roughly modeled) data from as close in as 5 AU which indicates there may have been an onset of the anomaly near Saturn. We observe that the data now arriving from the New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt could allow a relatively easy, direct experimental test of whether this onset is associated with distance from the Sun (being, for example, an effect of drag on dark matter). We strongly urge that this test be done.     

Cosmological baryon generation at low temperatures

Mechanisms for generating the net baryon number of the universe which do not involve grand unification are considered. Detailed calculations in a simple extension of the standard SU(3)×SU(2)×U(1) model are used to show that physics at temperatures of order 1 TeV can account for the observed baryon to entropy ratio. Some comments regarding alternatives to this simple model and some speculations concerning the implications for cosmology are offered.     

Molecular dynamics simulation for the baryon-quark phase transition at finite baryon density

We study the baryon-quark phase transition in the molecular dynamics (MD) of the quark degrees of freedom at finite baryon density. The baryon state at low baryon density, and the deconfined quark state at high baryon density are reproduced. We investigate the equations of state of matters with different u-d-s compositions. It is found that the baryon-quark transition is sensitive to the quark width.     

Charmed baryon production at the CERN intersecting storage rings

The production of a Λ⁺_c charmed baryon has been observed in pp collisions at the CERN ISR. A sharp peak at 2.26 GeV/c² was found in the decay mode Λ⁺_c → $\text{K}{}^{10}$p in events triggered with a forward K^? meson. Also the decay mode Λ⁺_c → K^? Δ⁺⁺ seems to be present. The estimation of the total cross section for Λ⁺_c production is given. However, the resulting value depends on the assumed form of the differential cross section. In addition, Λ⁺_c production in events triggered by the presence of a direct electron is discussed.     

Vacuum phase transition at nonzero baryon density

It is argued that the dominant contribution to the interaction of quark–gluon plasma at moderate T?Tc$T?T_c$ is given by the nonperturbative vacuum field correlators. Basing on that nonperturbative equation of state of quark–gluon plasma is computed and in the lowest approximation expressed in terms of absolute values of Polyakov lines for quarks and gluons Lfund(T),Ladj(T)=(Lfund)^9/4$L_{\mathrm{fund}}(T),L_{\mathrm{adj}}(T)={(L_{\mathrm{fund}})}^{9/4}$ known from lattice and analytic calculations. Phase transition at any μ   is described as a transition due to vanishing of one of correlators, DE(x)$D^E(x)$, which implies the change of gluonic condensate ΔG₂$\mathrm{\Delta }{G}_2$. Resulting transition temperature Tc(μ)$T_c(\mu )$ is calculated in terms of ΔG₂$\mathrm{\Delta }{G}_2$ and Lfund(Tc)$L_{\mathrm{fund}}(T_c)$. The phase curve Tc(μ)$T_c(\mu )$ is in a good agreement with lattice data. In particular Tc(0)=0.27$T_c(0)=0.27$; 0.19; 0.17 GeV$0.17\text{ GeV}$ for nf=0,2,3$n_f=0,2,3$ and fixed ΔG₂=0.0035 GeV⁴$\mathrm{\Delta }{G}_2=0.0035{\text{ GeV}}^4$.     

Electroweak baryon number violation at finite temperature

We consider baryon and lepton number violating processes in the electroweak theory induced by gauge and Higgs fields passing the sphaleron solution at finite temperature. We show that for temperatures larger than 19 GeV the anomalous baryon and lepton number violating processes are suppressed by the Boltzmann factor exp (?βE _sp), whereE _sp is the sphaleron energy, rather than by the instanton tunneling factor exp (?8π²/g ²). We caculate the rate of baryon and lepton number violating processes at finite temperature and determine the freezing temperature of the anomalous processes in the early universe as a function of the Higgs mass. We compare the freezing temperature with the critical temperature of the electroweak phase transition infered from the one-loop finite-temperature effective potential. We obtain a critical Higgs mass of the order of 100 GeV, slightly depending on the top mass and the magnitude of the pre-exponential factor in the rate of theB non-conservation, above which the anomalous processes are certainly in equilibrium after the electroweak phase transition. Assuming that the temperature-dependence of the sphaleron energy is given by that found from the one-loop finitetemperature effective potential, this critical Higgs mass is lowered to a value of the order of 50 GeV.     

Gluon condensates at finite baryon densities and temperature

We derive here the equation of state for quark matter with a nontrivial vacuum structure in QCD at finite temperature and baryon density. Using thermofield dynamics, the parameters of thermal vacuum and the gluon condensate function are determined through minimisation of the thermodynamic potential, along with a self-consistent determination of the effective gluon and quark masses. The scale parameter for the gluon condensates is related to the SVZ parameter in the context of QCD sum rules at zero temperature. With inclusion of quarks in the thermal vacuum the critical temperature at which the gluon condensate vanishes decreases as compared to that containing only gluons. At zero temperature, we similarly obtain the critical baryon density for the same to be about 0.36 fm^?3.     

The QCD phase structure at high baryon density

We consider the possibility that color deconfinement and chiral symmetry restoration do not coincide in dense baryonic matter at low temperature. As a consequence, a state of massive “constituent” quarks would exist as an intermediate phase between confined nuclear matter and the plasma of deconfined massless quarks and gluons. We discuss the properties of this state and its relation to the recently proposed quarkyonic matter.     

Anomaly mediated neutrino-photon interactions at finite baryon density

We propose new physical processes based on the axial vector anomaly and described by the Wess-Zumino-Witten term that couples the photon, Z-boson, and the omega-meson. The interaction takes the form of a pseudo-Chern-Simons term, approximately E(munurhosigma)omega(mu)ZnuFrhosigma. This term induces neutrino-photon interactions at finite baryon density via the coupling of the Z-boson to neutrinos. These interactions may be detectable in various laboratory and astrophysical arenas. The new interactions may account for the excess observed at the Fermilab Booster Neutrino Experiment MiniBooNE. They also produce a competitive contribution to neutron star cooling at temperatures greater, similar10(9) K. These processes and related axion-photon interactions at finite baryon density appear to be relevant in many astrophysical regimes.