On the chiral phase transition in hadronic matter

A qualitative analysis of the chiral phase transition in QCD with two massless quarks and nonzero baryon density is performed. It is assumed that, at zero baryonic density, ρ=0, the temperature phase transition is of the second order. Due to a specific power dependence of baryon masses on the chiral condensate, the phase transition becomes of the first order at the temperature T=T_ph(ρ) for ρ>0. At temperatures T_cont(ρ)> _T>_Tph(ρ), there is a mixed phase consisting of the quark phase (stable) and the hadron phase (unstable). At the temperature T=T_cont(ρ), the system experiences a continuous transition to the pure chirally symmetric phase.     

Quark matter nucleation in hot hadronic matter

We study the quark deconfinement phase transition in hot β-stable hadronic matter. Assuming a first order phase transition, we calculate the enthalpy per baryon of the hadron–quark phase transition. We calculate and compare the nucleation rate and the nucleation time due to thermal and quantum nucleation mechanisms. We compute the crossover temperature above which thermal nucleation dominates the finite temperature quantum nucleation mechanism. We next discuss the consequences for the physics of proto-neutron stars. We introduce the concept of limiting conversion temperature and critical mass M_cr for proto-hadronic stars, and we show that proto-hadronic stars with a mass M<M_cr could survive the early stages of their evolution without decaying to a quark star.     

On the ω dependence of exclusive hadronic final states in lepton-hadron scattering

A framework is presented for studying the ω dependence of exclusive hadronic final states in lepton-hadron scattering (ω being Bjorken's scaling variable 2Mv/Q²). This is used for the analysis of K∫, KΛ, πN and πΔ final states.     

Phase transitions in hadronic matter

We formulate an equation of state for strongly interacting matter, which leads to a phase transition from massive resonance excitation to ideal gas behaviour. The structural similarity to the Van der Waals equation is discussed, as are extensions to describe hadron to quark matter transitions.     

String dynamics in hadronic matter

Hadron production in soft hadronic collisions is successfully described by a longitudinal excitation and subsequent decay of color flux tubes. We consider the dynamics of interacting unstable strings as a generalization designed forhA andAA interactions at ultrarelativistic energies. The constituent quarks at the ends of the decaying strings and the produced hadrons can interact with the surrounding matter. The effect of secondary interactions in molecular dynamics calculations forAA collisions at CERN energies (200A GeV) can be seen in an enhancement of transverse energy, particle production and the mean transverse momenta. The results agree very well with the experimental measurements at ultrarelativistic beam energies inpp, hA and the recentAA collisions.     

Kaon production in hadronic matter

Subthreshold kaon production has been studied in symmetric nucleus-nucleus collisions as a function of the nucleus mass, beam energy and centrality. In Au+Au collsions at 1 AGeV theK ⁺ multiplicity increases more than linearly with increasing number of participating nucleons. Transport calculations have to assume a soft equation of state in order to reproduce the data. The in-mediumK ^? cross section measured in Ni+Ni collisions is enhanced by about a factor of 7 as compared to the free cross section when using theK ⁺ cross section at equivalent beam energies as a normalization.     

Chiral thermodynamics of dense hadronic matter

We discuss phases of hot and dense hadronic matter using chiral Lagrangians. A two-flavored parity doublet model constrained by the nuclear matter ground state predicts chiral symmetry restoration. The model thermodynamics is shown within the mean-field approximation. A field-theoretical constraint on possible phases from the anomaly matching is also discussed.     

The phase diagram of hadronic matter

We interpret the phase structure of hadronic matter in terms of the basic dynamical and geometrical features of hadrons. Increasing the density of constituents of finite spatial extension, by increasing the temperature T or the baryochemical potential μ, eventually “fills the box” and eliminates the physical vacuum. We determine the corresponding transition as a function of T and μ through percolation theory. At low baryon density, this means a fusion of overlapping mesonic bags to one large bag, while at high baryon density, hard-core repulsion restricts the spatial mobility of baryons. As a consequence, there are two distinct limiting regimes for hadronic matter. We compare our results to those from effective chiral model studies.     

Equation of state for hadronic matter

An exact equation of state for a relativistic quantum gas model of hadronic matter is derived using analytical methods. Our results are shown to be an extension of the quantum gases through the inclusion of the hadronic mass spectrum ?(m).     

Chiral-symmetry restoration in clustered hadronic matter

Chiral-symmetry restoration is usually discussed in the context of quark matter, a system of deconfined quarks. However, many systems like stable nuclei and neutron stars have quarks confined within nucleons. In the present paper we use a Fermi sea of three-quark clusters instead of a Fermi sea of deconfined quarks to investigate the in-medium quark condensate. We find that an enhancement of the chiral breaking in clustered matter as claimed in the literature is not a consequence of the clustering but rather dependent on the microscopic model dynamics.Received: 30 September 2002, Published online: 22 October 2003PACS: 21.65. + f Nuclear matter - 24.85. + p Quarks, gluons, and QCD in nuclei and nuclear processes - 12.39.-x Phenomenological quark models     

Thermodynamics of hadronic matter at high density

We calculate thermodynamics observables for an interacting relativistic hadron gas. Hadronic states are taken into account by the use of a sizeable portion of the experimental hadron spectrum, supplemented in some cases by an exponentially rising continuum. Calculations with non-zero baryon number densities, subject to the additional requirement of zero net strangeness, show structure in the heat capacity per unit volume of the baryon sector at a temperature of approximately 140 MeV. This structure also becomes visible in the total heat capacity per unit volume at large baryon number densities, and provides a signature for the change of the thermal response of the hadron gas from baryon- to meson-dominated, even though the meson number density is lower than the baryon number density. Furthermore, this structure is not seen in calculations with a massless hadron gas. Its origin is therefore associated with information contained in the hadronic mass spectrum, and thus with the sub-hadronic degrees of freedom of the hadrons.     

The speed of sound in hadronic matter

We calculate the speed of sound c _s in an ideal gas of resonances, whose mass spectrum is assumed to have the Hagedorn form ρ(m)～m ^?a exp?{bm}, which leads to singular behavior at the critical temperature T _c =1/b. With a=4 the pressure and the energy density remain finite at T _c , while the specific heat diverges there. As a function of the temperature, the corresponding speed of sound initially increases similarly to that of an ideal pion gas, until near T _c resonance effects dominate, which causes c _s to vanish as (T _c ?T)^1/4. In order to compare this result to the physical resonance gas models, we introduce an upper cut-off M in the resonance mass integration. Although the truncated form still decreases somewhat in the region around T _c , the actual critical behavior in these models is no longer present.     

Thermal relaxation of charm in hadronic matter

The thermal relaxation rate of open-charm (D) mesons in hot and dense hadronic matter is calculated using empirical elastic scattering amplitudes. D-meson interactions with thermal pions are approximated by D^? resonances, while scattering off other hadrons (K, η, ρ, ω, K^?, N, Δ) is evaluated using vacuum scattering amplitudes as available in the literature based on effective Lagrangians and constrained by realistic spectroscopy. The thermal relaxation time of D-mesons in a hot π gas is found to be around 25-50 fm/c for temperatures T=150-180 MeV, which reduces to 10-25 fm/c in a hadron-resonance gas. The latter values, argued to be conservative estimates, imply significant modifications of D-meson spectra in heavy-ion collisions. Close to the critical temperature (Tc), the spatial diffusion coefficient (Ds) is surprisingly similar to recent calculations for charm quarks in the Quark-Gluon Plasma using non-perturbative T-matrix interactions. This suggests a possibly continuous minimum structure of Ds around Tc.     

Free quarks and antiquarks versus hadronic matter

Meson-meson reactions A(q1q1) + B(q2q2) → q1+q1+ q2+q2 in high-temperature hadronic matter are found to produce an appreciable amount of quarks and antiquarks freely moving in hadronic matter and to establish a new mechanism for deconfinement of quarks and antiquarks in hadronic matter.     

Free quarks and antiquarks versus hadronic matter

Meson-meson reactions A(q₁q₁)+B(q₂q₂)→q₁+q₁+q₂+q₂ in high-temperature hadronic matter are found to produce an appreciable amount of quarks and antiquarks freely moving in hadronic matter and to establish a new mechanism for deconfinement of quarks and antiquarks in hadronic matter.     

Generalized entropy and transport coefficients of hadronic matter

We use the generalized entropy four-current of the Müller-Israel-Stewart (MIS) theories of relativistic dissipative fluids to obtain information about fluctuations around equilibrium states. This allows one to compute the non-classical coefficients of the entropy 4-flux in terms of the equilibrium distribution functions. The Green-Kubo formulae are used to compute the standard transport coefficients from the fluctuations of entropy due to dissipative fluxes.     

Non-perturbative momentum dependence of the coupling constant and hadronic models

Models of hadron structure are associated with a hadronic scale which allows by perturbative evolution to calculate observables in the deep inelastic region. The resolution of Dyson-Schwinger equations leads to the freezing of the QCD running coupling (effective charge) in the infrared, which is best understood as a dynamical generation of a gluon mass function, giving rise to a momentum dependence which is free from infrared divergences. We use this new development to understand why perturbative treatments are working reasonably well despite the smallness of the hadronic scale.     

Critical properties of hadronic matter in thermodynamical models

The temperature T₀ in certain thermodynamical models for strongly interacting systems taken as the critical point yields directly the critical exponents for the specific heat and compressibility. We discuss the implications of thermodynamical scaling using various asymptotic conditions.