Free Quarks Research Articles

An equation-of-state-meter of quantum chromodynamics transition from deep learning

A primordial state of matter consisting of free quarks and gluons that existed in the early universe a few microseconds after the Big Bang is also expected to form in high-energy heavy-ion collisions. Determining the equation of state (EoS) of such a primordial matter is the ultimate goal of high-energy heavy-ion experiments. Here we use supervised learning with a deep convolutional neural network to identify the EoS employed in the relativistic hydrodynamic simulations of heavy ion collisions. High-level correlations of particle spectra in transverse momentum and azimuthal angle learned by the network act as an effective EoS-meter in deciphering the nature of the phase transition in quantum chromodynamics. Such EoS-meter is model-independent and insensitive to other simulation inputs including the initial conditions for hydrodynamic simulations.

Multiplicity fluctuation and correlation of mesons and baryons in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions at the LHC**Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (11575100)

We study the multiplicity fluctuation and correlation of identified mesons and baryons formed at hadronization by the quark combination mechanism in the context of ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Based on the statistical method of free quark combination, we derive the two-hadron multiplicity correlations, including meson-meson and meson-baryon correlations, and take the effects of quark number fluctuation at hadronization into account by a Taylor expansion method. After including the decay contributions, we calculate the dynamical fluctuation observable for , and Kp pairs and discuss what underlying physics can be obtained by comparing with data from Pb-Pb collisions at and simulations from the HIJING and AMPT event generators.

Possible effect of mixed phase and deconfinement upon spin correlations in the pairs generated in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

Spin correlations for the ΛΛ and pairs, generated in relativistic heavy-ion collisions, and related angular correlations at the joint registration of space-parity nonconserving hadronic decays of two hyperons are theoretically analyzed. The correlation tensor components can be derived from the double angular distribution of products of two decays by the method of “moments”. The properties of the “trace” of the correlation tensor (a sum of three diagonal components), determining the angular correlations as well as the relative fractions of the triplet and singlet states of respective pairs, are discussed. In the present report, spin correlations for two identical (ΛΛ) and two non-identical particles are generally considered within the conventional model of one-particle sources, implying that correlations vanish at sufficiently large relative momenta. However, under these conditions (especially at ultrarelativistic energies), for two non-identical particles the two-particle annihilation sources – quark-antiquark and two-gluon ones – start playing a noticeable role and lead to the difference of the correlation tensor from zero. In particular, such a situation may arise, when the system passes through the “mixed phase” and – due to the multiple production of free quarks and gluons in the process of deconfinement of hadronic matter – the number of two-particle sources strongly increases.

Isovector properties of quark matter and quark stars in an isospin-dependent confining model

The confining quark matter (CQM) model, in which the confinement and asymptotic freedom are modeled via the Richardson potential for quark-quark vector interaction and the chiral symmetry restoration at high density is described by the density dependent quark mass, is extended to include isospin dependence of the quark mass. Within this extended isospin-dependent confining quark matter (ICQM) model, we study the properties of strange quark matter and quark stars. We find that including isospin dependence of the quark mass can significantly influence the quark matter symmetry energy, the stability of strange quark matter and the mass-radius relation of quark stars. In particular, we demonstrate although the recently discovered large mass pulsars PSR J1614.2230 and PSR J0348+0432 with masses around two times solar mass ($2M_{\odot}$) cannot be quark stars within the original CQM model, they can be well described by quark stars in the ICQM model if the isospin dependence of quark mass is strong enough so that the quark matter symmetry energy is about four times that of a free quark gas. We also discuss the effects of the density dependence of quark mass on the properties of quark stars. Our results indicate that the heavy quark stars with mass around $2M_{\odot}$ (if exist) can put strong constraints on isospin and density dependence of the quark mass as well as the quark matter symmetry energy.

Equation of state within gluon dominated QGP model in relativistic hydrodynamics approach

The dynamics of quark-gluon plasma (QGP) as a lump of deconfined free quarks and gluons is elaborated. Based on the first principal, we construct the Lagrangian that represents the dynamics of QGP. To induce a hydrodynamics approach, we substitute the gluon fields with flow fields. As a result, the derived equation of motion (E.O.M) for gluon dominated QGP shows a form similar to Euler equation; and the energy momentum tensor also represents explicitly the system of ideal fluid. Combining the E.O.M and energy momentum tensor, the pressure and energy density distribution are analytically derived.

Towards strong field tests of beyond Horndeski gravity theories

Theories of gravity in the beyond Horndeski class encompass a wide range of scalar-tensor theories that will be tested on cosmological scales over the coming decade. In this work, we investigate the possibility of testing them in the strong-field regime by looking at the properties of compact objects-neutron, hyperon, and quark stars-embedded in an asymptotically de Sitter space-time, for a specific subclass of theories. We extend previous works to include slow rotation and find a relation between the dimensionless moment of intertia, ($\bar{I}=Ic^2/G_{\rm N} M^3$), and the compactness, $\cal{C}=G_{\rm N} M/Rc^2$ (an $\bar{I}$-$\cal{C}$ relation), independent of the equation of state, that is reminiscent of but distinct from the general relativity prediction. Several of our equations of state contain hyperons and free quarks, allowing us to revisit the hyperon puzzle. We find that the maximum mass of hyperon stars can be larger than $2M_\odot$ for small values of the beyond Horndeski parameter, thus providing a resolution of the hyperon puzzle based on modified gravity. Moreover, stable quark stars exist when hyperonic stars are unstable, which means that the phase transition from hyperon to quark stars is predicted just as in general relativity, albeit with larger quark star masses. Two important and potentially observable consequences of some of the theories we consider are the existence of neutron stars in a range of masses significantly higher than in GR, and $\bar{I}$-$\mathcal{C}$ relations that differ from their GR counterparts. In the former case, we find objects that, if observed, could not be accounted for in GR because they violate the usual GR causality condition. We end by discussing several difficult technical issues that remain to be addressed in order to reach more realistic predictions that may be tested using gravitational wave searches or neutron star observations.

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.

Nontrivial center dominance in high temperature QCD

We investigate the properties of quarks and gluons above the chiral phase transition temperature [Formula: see text], using the renormalization group (RG) improved gauge action and the Wilson quark action with two degenerate quarks mainly on a [Formula: see text] lattice. In the one-loop perturbation theory, the thermal ensemble is dominated by the gauge configurations with effectively [Formula: see text] center twisted boundary conditions, making the thermal expectation value of the spatial Polyakov loop take a nontrivial [Formula: see text] center. This is in agreement with our lattice simulation of high temperature quantum chromodynamics (QCD). We further observe that the temporal propagator of massless quarks at extremely high temperature [Formula: see text] remarkably agrees with the temporal propagator of free quarks with the [Formula: see text] twisted boundary condition for [Formula: see text], but differs from that with the [Formula: see text] trivial boundary condition. As we increase the mass of quarks [Formula: see text], we find that the thermal ensemble continues to be dominated by the [Formula: see text] twisted gauge field configurations as long as [Formula: see text] and above that the [Formula: see text] trivial configurations come in. The transition is similar to what we found in the departure from the conformal region in the zero-temperature many-flavor conformal QCD on a finite lattice by increasing the mass of quarks.

Radius of theρmeson determined from its decay constant

We present a unified model describing electroweak properties of the pi and rho mesons. Using a general method of relativistic parametrization of matrix elements of local operators, adjusted for the nondiagonal in total angular momentum case, we calculate the rho-meson lepton-decay constant f_rho using the same parameters of free constituent quarks that have ensured exclusively good results for the pi meson previously. The only free parameter, characterizing quark interactions, which include additional spin-spin contribution and hence differ from the $\pi$-meson case, is fixed by matching the decay constant to its experimental value. The mean square charge radius is calculated, <r^2_rho>=(0.56+-0.04) fm^2. This result verifies, for the rho-meson case, the conjecture of equality between electromagnetic and strong radii of hadrons tested previously for proton, pi and K mesons.

Nontopological soliton in the Polyakov quark-meson model

Within a mean field approximation, we study a nontopological soliton solution of the Polyakov quark-meson model in the presence of a fermionic vacuum term with two flavors at finite temperature and density. The profile of the effective potential exhibits a stable soliton solution below a critical temperature $T\leq T_{\chi}^c$ for both the crossover and the first-order phase transitions, and these solutions are calculated here with appropriate boundary conditions. However, it is found that only if $T\leq T^c_d$,the energy of the soliton $M_N$ is less than the energy of the three free constituent quarks $3M_q$. As $T> T^c_d$, there is an instant delocalization phase transition from hadron matter to quark matter. The phase diagram together with the location of a critical end point (CEP) has been obtained in $T$ and $\mu$ plane. We notice that two critical temperatures always satisfy $T^c_d\leq T_{\chi}^c$. Finally, we present and compare the result of thermodynamic pressure at zero chemical potential with lattice data.

Baryon-strangeness correlation in quark combination models

The baryon-strangeness correlation in the hadronization of the quark matter is studied within the quark combination mechanism. We calculate the correlation coefficient $C_{BS} = -3\big(\langle B S \rangle -\langle B\rangle \langle S\rangle\big)/\big( \langle S^2 \rangle-\langle S \rangle^2 \big)$ of initial hadrons produced from the deconfined free quark system with $C^{(q)}_{BS}=1$. The competition of the production of baryons against that of mesons is the key dynamics that is most relevant to the change of baryon-strangeness correlation during system hadronization. Results of quark combination under the Poisson statistics agree with the statistical model predictions for a hadron resonance gas at vanishing chemical potential but differ from those at relatively large chemical potentials. Results beyond Poisson statistics are also obtained and are compared with calculations of Lattice QCD in the phase boundary, giving the best agreement at temperature $T =163$ MeV. We predict the dependence of the $C_{BS}$ of hadron system on the baryon chemical potential and strangeness. These predictions are expected to be tested by the future Lattice QCD calculations at non-zero chemical potentials and/or by the Beam Energy Scan experiment of STAR Collaboration at RHIC.

Justifying the naive partonic sum rule for proton spin

We provide a theoretical basis for understanding the spin structure of the proton in terms of the spin and orbital angular momenta of free quarks and gluons in Feynman's parton picture. We show that each term in the Jaffe–Manohar spin sum rule can be related to the matrix element of a gauge-invariant, but frame-dependent operator through a matching formula in large-momentum effective field theory. We present all the matching conditions for the spin content at one-loop order in perturbation theory, which provide a basis to calculate parton orbital angular momentum in lattice QCD at leading logarithmic accuracy.

Unpolarized transverse momentum dependent parton distribution functions beyond leading twist in quark models

Higher-twist transverse momentum dependent parton distribution functions (TMDs) are a valuable probe of the quark-gluon dynamics in the nucleon, and play a vital role for the explanation of sizable azimuthal asymmetries in hadron production from unpolarized and polarized deep-inelastic lepton-nucleon scattering observed in experiments at CERN, DESY and Jefferson Lab. The associated observables are challenging to interpret, and still await a complete theoretical explanation, which makes guidance from models valuable. In this work we establish the formalism to describe unpolarized higher-twist TMDs in the light-front framework based on a Fock-space expansion of the nucleon state in terms of free on-shell parton states. We derive general expressions and present numerical results in a practical realization of this picture provided by the light-front constituent quark model. We review several other popular quark model approaches including free quark ensemble, bag, spectator and chiral quark-soliton model. We discuss how higher-twist TMDs are described in these models, and obtain results for several TMDs not discussed previously in literature. This study contributes to the understanding of non-perturbative properties of subleading twist TMDs. The results from the light-front constituent quark model are also compared to available phenomenological information, showing a satisfactory agreement.

Entropy in the quark–hadron transition

We study, in the PNJL model, how the entropy of interacting quarks reflects the change in the effective degrees of freedom as the temperature increases through the quark–hadron phase transition. With inclusion of mesonic correlations, the effective degrees of freedom change from those of pi and sigma mesons at low temperatures to those of free quarks at high temperatures, with a resultant second order phase deconfinement transition in the chiral limit.

On the metric of the space of states in a modified QCD

The form of the resulting Feynman propagators in a proposed local and gauge invariant QCD for massive fermions suggests the existence of indefinite metric associated to quark states, a property that might relate it with the known Lee-Wick theories. Thus, the nature of the asymptotic free quark states in the theory is investigated here by quantizing the quadratic part of the quark action. As opposite to the case in the standard QCD, the free theory does not show Hamiltonian constraints. The propagation modes include a family of massless waves and a complementary set of massive oscillations. The theory can be quantized in a way that the massive modes show positive metric and the massless ones exhibit negative norms. It is remarked that, since QCD is expected to not exhibit gluon or quark asymptotic states, the presence of negative metric massless modes does not constitute a definite drawback of the theory. In addition, the fact that the positive metric quark states are massive, seems to be a good feature of the model, being consistent with the approximate existence of asymptotically free massive states in high-energy processes.

Tracking with Straw Tubes in the PANDA Experiment

The PANDA spectrometer will be built at the FAIR facility at Darmstadt (Ger- many) to perform accurate tests of the strong interaction through ¯ pp andannihilation studies. The charged particle tracking at PANDA will be done using both solid state and gaseous detectors. Among the latter, two straw tube detector systems will be built (1). The cylindrical, central straw tube tracker features a high spatial and momentum resolu- tion for a wide range of particle momenta from about 8 GeV/c down to a few 100 MeV/c, together with particle identification in the momentum region below about 1 GeV/c by measuring the specific energy-loss. A new technique, based on self-supporting straw double layers with intrinsic wire tension developed for the COSY-TOF straw tracker (2), has been adopted for the PANDA trackers. The development of the readout electronics for the straw tubes is ongoing. Prototypes have been produced and used to instrument straw tube modules that have been tested with cosmic rays and proton beams. Design issues of the PANDA straw tubes, together with the results of the prototype tests are presented. The PANDA experiment (3) is one of four experiments planned for the future Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) (4) in Darmstadt, Germany. The scientific program of the PANDA Collaboration is oriented towards precise studies of strong interaction in the QCD transi- tion region between asymptotically free quarks and hadronic matter. The maximum available center of mass total energy in the PANDA experiment ( √ s= 5.46 GeV/c 2 ) will allow hadronic structures involving the charm quark degrees of freedom to be investigated. The PANDA detector will be in- stalled around the internal target of the High Energy Storage Ring (HESR), which will accumulate, accelerate and cool up to 10 11 antiprotons. In the experiment, the annihilation of antiprotons with

QUARK MATTER SYMMETRY ENERGY AND QUARK STARS

We extend the confined-density-dependent-mass (CDDM) model to include isospin dependence of the equivalent quark mass. Within the confined-isospin-density-dependent-mass (CIDDM) model, we study the quark matter symmetry energy, the stability of strange quark matter, and the properties of quark stars. We find that including isospin dependence of the equivalent quark mass can significantly influence the quark matter symmetry energy as well as the properties of strange quark matter and quark stars. While the recently discovered large mass pulsars PSR J1614-2230 and PSR J0348+0432 with masses around $2M_{\odot}$ cannot be quark stars within the CDDM model, they can be well described by quark stars in the CIDDM model. In particular, our results indicate that the two-flavor $u$-$d$ quark matter symmetry energy should be at least about twice that of a free quark gas or normal quark matter within conventional Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model in order to describe the PSR J1614-2230 and PSR J0348+0432 as quark stars.

Simulation of non-Abelian gauge theories with optical lattices

Many phenomena occurring in strongly correlated quantum systems still await conclusive explanations. The absence of isolated free quarks in nature is an example. It is attributed to quark confinement, whose origin is not yet understood. The phase diagram for nuclear matter at general temperatures and densities, studied in heavy-ion collisions, is not settled. Finally, we have no definitive theory of high-temperature superconductivity. Though we have theories that could underlie such physics, we lack the tools to determine the experimental consequences of these theories. Quantum simulators may provide such tools. Here we show how to engineer quantum simulators of non-Abelian lattice gauge theories. The systems we consider have several applications: they can be used to mimic quark confinement or to study dimer and valence-bond states (which may be relevant for high-temperature superconductors).

Nuclear equation of state in a relativistic independent quark model with chiral symmetry and dependence on quark masses

We have calculated the properties of nuclear matter in a self-consistent manner with a quark-meson coupling mechanism incorporating the structure of nucleons in vacuum through a relativistic potential model; where the dominant confining interaction for the free independent quarks inside a nucleon is represented by a phenomenologically average potential in equally mixed scalar-vector harmonic form. Corrections due to spurious center of mass motion as well as those due to other residual interactions, such as the one gluon exchange at short distances and quark-pion coupling arising out of chiral symmetry restoration, have been considered in a perturbative manner to obtain the nucleon mass in vacuum. The nucleon-nucleon interaction in nuclear matter is then realized by introducing additional quark couplings to $\ensuremath{\sigma}$ and $\ensuremath{\omega}$ mesons through mean field approximations. The relevant parameters of the interaction are obtained self-consistently while realizing the saturation properties such as the binding energy, pressure, and compressibility of the nuclear matter. We also discuss some implications of chiral symmetry in nuclear matter along with the nucleon and nuclear $\ensuremath{\sigma}$ term and the sensitivity of nuclear matter binding energy with variations in the light quark mass.

Quark–hadron phase transition in the PNJL model for interacting quarks

We study quark-hadron phase transition at finite temperature with zero net baryon density by the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model for interacting quarks in uniform background temporal color gauge fields. At low temperatures, unphysical thermal quark-antiquark excitations which would appear in the mean field approximation, are eliminated by en- forcing vanishing expectation value of the Polyakov-loop of the background gauge field, while at high temperatures this expectation value is taken as unity allowing thermal excitations of free quarks and antiquarks. Mesonic excitations in the low temperature phase appear in the correlation energy as contributions of collective excitations. We describe them in terms of thermal fluctuations of auxiliary fields in one-loop (Gaus- sian) approximation, where pions appear as Nambu-Goldstone modes associated with dynamical symmetry breaking of the chiral symmetry in the limit of vanishing bare quark masses. We show that at low temperatures the equations of state reduces to that of free meson gas with small corrections arising from the composite nature of mesons. At high temperatures, all these collective mesonic excitations melt into continuum of quark anti-quark excitations and mesonic correlations gives only small contributions the pressure of the system.