Gluonic Excitations Research Articles

Heavy-quark diffusion in 2+1D and glasmalike plasmas: Evidence of a transport peak

We examine how plasma excitations affect the heavy-quark diffusion coefficient in 2+1-dimensional and glasmalike plasmas, akin to the preequilibrium matter describing relativistic heavy-ion collisions at early times. We find that the transport coefficient 2κ transverse to and κz along the beam direction display a qualitatively different evolution. We attribute this to the underlying excitation spectra of these systems, thus providing evidence for the existence of nonperturbative properties in the spectrum. This is accomplished by first reconstructing the diffusion coefficients using gauge-fixed correlation functions, which accurately reproduces the time evolution of 2κ and κz. We then modify these excitation spectra to study the impact of their nonperturbative features on the transport coefficients. In particular, we find evidence for a novel transport peak in the low-frequency spectrum that is crucial for heavy-quark diffusion. We also demonstrate that gluonic excitations are broad while scalar excitations associated with κz are narrow and strongly enhanced at low momenta. Our findings indicate that the large values and dynamical properties of transport coefficients in the glasma could originate from genuinely nonperturbative features in the spectrum. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Hamiltonian formalism for Bose excitations in a plasma with a non-Abelian interaction I: Plasmon – hard particle scattering

Hamiltonian theory for collective longitudinally polarized gluon excitations (plasmons) interacting with classical high-energy test color-charged particle propagating through a high-temperature gluon plasma is developed. A generalization of the Lie-Poisson bracket to the case of a continuous medium involving bosonic normal field variable ak⁎a and a non-Abelian color charge Qa is performed and the corresponding Hamilton equations are presented. The canonical transformations including simultaneously both bosonic degrees of freedom of the soft collective excitations and degree of freedom of hard test particle connecting with its color charge in the hot gluon plasma are written out. A complete system of the canonicity conditions for these transformations is derived. The notion of the plasmon number density Nkaa1′, which is a nontrivial matrix in the color space, is introduced. An explicit form of the effective fourth-order Hamiltonian describing the elastic scattering of a plasmon off a hard color particle is found and the self-consistent system of Boltzmann-type kinetic equations taking into account the time evolution of the mean value of the color charge of the hard particle is obtained. On the basis of these equations, a model problem of the interaction of two infinitely narrow wave packets is considered. A system of nonlinear first-order ordinary differential equations defining the dynamics of the interaction of the colorless Nkl and color Wkl components of the plasmon number density is derived. The problem of determining the third- and fourth-order coefficient functions entering into the canonical transformations of the original bosonic variable ak⁎a and color charge Qa is discussed. With the help of the coefficient functions obtained, a complete effective amplitude of the elastic scattering of plasmon off hard test particle is written out.

Hamiltonian formalism for Fermi excitations in a plasma with a non-Abelian interaction

The Hamiltonian theory for the collective longitudinally polarized colorless gluon excitations (plasmons) and for collective quark–antiquark excitations with abnormal relation between chirality and helicity (plasminos) in high-temperature quark–gluon plasma (QGP) is developed. For this purpose, Zakharov’s formalism for constructing the wave theory in nonlinear media with dispersion is used. A generalization of the Poisson superbracket involving both commuting and anticommuting variables to the case of a continuous medium is performed and the corresponding Hamilton equations are presented. The canonical transformations including simultaneously both bosonic and fermionic degrees of freedom of the collective excitations in QGP are discussed and a complete system of the canonicity conditions for these transformations is written out. An explicit form of the effective fourth-order Hamiltonians describing the elastic scattering of plasmino off plasmino and plasmino off plasmon is found and the Boltzmann-type kinetic equations describing the processes of elastic scattering are obtained. A detailed comparison of the effective amplitudes defined within the (pseudo)classical Hamiltonian theory, with the corresponding matrix elements calculated early in the framework of high-temperature quantum chromodynamics in the so-called hard thermal loop approximation, is performed. This enables one to obtain, in particular, an explicit form of the vertex and coefficient functions in the effective amplitudes and in the canonical transformations, correspondingly, and also to define the validity of a purely pseudoclassical approach in the Hamiltonian description of the dynamics of quark–gluon plasma. The problem of determining the higher-order coefficient functions in the canonical transformations of fermionic and bosonic normal variables is considered. With the help of the coefficient functions obtained, the totally symmetric effective amplitudes of the elastic scattering of plasmino off plasmon and plasmino off plasmino are written out.

Instability of a uniform electric field in pure non-Abelian Yang-Mills theory

We study the Schwinger process in a uniform non-Abelian electric field using a dynamical approach in which we evolve an initial quantum state for gluonic excitations. We evaluate the spectral energy density and number density in the excitations as functions of time. The total energy density has an ultraviolet divergence which we argue gets tamed due to asymptotic freedom, leading to ${g}^{4}{E}^{4}{t}^{4}$ growth, where $g$ is the coupling and $E$ the electric field strength. We also find an infrared divergence in the number density of excitations whose resolution requires an effect such as confinement.

Photoproduction of the Λ(1520) hyperon with a 9 GeV photon beam at GlueX

The GlueX experiment is located at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (JLab) in Newport News, VA, USA. It features a hermetic 4π detector with excellent tracking and calorimetry capabilities. Its 9 GeV linearly polarized photon beam is produced from the 12 GeV electron beam, delivered by JLab’s Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF), via bremsstrahlung on a thin diamond and is incident on a LH2 target. GlueX recently finished its first data taking period and published first results.The main goal of GlueX is to measure gluonic excitations of mesons. These so-called hybrid or exotic mesons are predicted by Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) but haven’t been experimentally confirmed yet. They can have quantum numbers not accessible by ordinary quark-antiquark pairs which helps in identifying them using partial wave analysis techniques. The search for exotic mesons requires a very good understanding of photoproduction processes in a wide range of final states, one of them being pK + K − which contains many meson and baryon reactions. The Λ(1520) is a prominent hyperon resonance in this final state and is the subject of this presentation.This talk will give an introduction to the GlueX experiment and show preliminary results for the photoproduction of the Λ(1520) hyperon. The measurement of important observables like the photon beam asymmetry and spin-density matrix elements will be discussed and an outlook to possible measurements of further hyperon states in the pK + K − final state will be given.

Search for exotic states in photoproduction at GlueX

Understanding the hadron spectrum is one of the primary goals of non-perturbative QCD. Many predictions have been experimentally confirmed, but others remain under experimental investigation. Of particular interest is how gluonic excitations give rise to states with constituent glue. One class of such states are hybrid mesons that are predicted by theoretical models and Lattice QCD calculations. Searching for and understanding the nature of these states is a primary physics goal of the GlueX experiment at the CEBAF accelerator at Jefferson Lab in the US. We will give an overview of the experiment, and present the status of the search for a hybrid meson candidate, Y(2175).

The multi-Regge limit from the Wilson loop OPE

The finite remainder function for planar, color-ordered, maximally helicity violating scattering processes in N = 4 super Yang-Mills theory possesses a non-vanishing multi-Regge limit that depends on the choice of a Mandelstam region. We analyze the combined multi-Regge collinear limit in all Mandelstam regions through an analytic continuation of the Wilson loop OPE. At leading order, the former is determined by the gluon excitation of the Gubser-Klebanov-Polyakov string. We illustrate the general procedure at the example of the heptagon remainder function at two loops. In this case, the continuation of the leading order terms in the Wilson loop OPE suffices to determine the two-loop multi-Regge heptagon functions in all Mandelstam regions from their symbols. The expressions we obtain are fully consistent with recent results by Del Duca et al.

Hamiltonian Formalism for Bose Excitations in a Plasma with a Non-Abelian Interaction

We have developed the Hamiltonian theory for collective longitudinally polarized colorless excitations (plasmons) in a high-temperature gluon plasma using the general formalism for constructing the wave theory in nonlinear media with dispersion, which was developed by V.E. Zakharov. In this approach, we have explicitly obtained a special canonical transformation that makes it possible to simplify the Hamiltonian of interaction of soft gluon excitations and, hence, to derive a new effective Hamiltonian. The approach developed here is used for constructing a Boltzmann-type kinetic equation describing elastic scattering of collective longitudinally polarized excitations in a gluon plasma as well as the effect of the so-called nonlinear Landau damping. We have performed detailed comparison of the effective amplitude of the plasmon-plasmon interaction, which is determined using the classical Hamilton theory, with the corresponding matrix element calculated in the framework of high-temperature quantum chromodynamics; this has enabled us to determine applicability limits for the purely classical approach described in this study.

Excited-state effects in nucleon structure on the lattice using hybrid interpolators

It would be very useful to find a way of reducing excited-state effects in lattice QCD calculations of nucleon structure that has a low computational cost. We explore the use of hybrid interpolators, which contain a nontrivial gluonic excitation, in a variational basis together with the standard interpolator with tuned smearing width. Using the clover discretization of the field strength tensor, a calculation using a fixed linear combination of standard and hybrid interpolators can be done using the same number of quark propagators as a standard calculation, making this a cost-effective option. We find that such an interpolator, optimized by solving a generalized eigenvalue problem, reduces excited-state contributions in two-point correlators. However, the effect in three-point correlators, which are needed for computing nucleon matrix elements, is mixed: for some matrix elements such as the tensor charge, excited-state effects are suppressed, whereas for others such as the axial charge, they are enhanced. The results illustrate that the variational method is not guaranteed to reduce the net contribution from excited states except in its asymptotic regime, and suggest that it may be important to use a large basis of interpolators capable of isolating all of the relevant low-lying states.

Masses and decays of the bottom-charm hybrid meson cb¯g

We study gluonic excitations inside a $B_{c} $ meson in the constituent gluon model, treating a bottom-charm hybrid meson $ c \bar{b} g $ as a three-body system. We obtain the mass spectra for the hybrid mesons with magnetic gluon and electric gluon and see that their lowest states appear above the $ D B $ threshold. Also, we consider the decays of the low-lying states of the hybrid meson into $ DB , \; D^{*} B, DB^{*} $, $ D^{*}B^{*} $, $ D_{s} B_{s} $, and $D_{s} B_{s}^{*} $ mesons, developing an existing model for the strong decays. We estimate their partial decay widths and find that the widths have a heavy dependence on the final meson states. We argue that the accuracy of our model will be tested experimentally when the branching ratios of the decays are measured. Our results suggest that there could be a prospect that the hybrid meson will be discovered as its first excited state rather than its lowest state.

Conventional and hybrid Bc mesons in an extended potential model

Using our analytical expressions that well model the lattice simulations of the gluonic excitations, we use the extended quark potential model to study the effects of orbital and radial excitations on the masses and sizes of conventional and hybrid $B_c$ mesons. A non relativistic formalism is used to numerically calculate the wave functions using the shooting method; this allows us also calculating the $E1$, $M1$ radiative partial widths for conventional meson to meson and hybrid to hybrid transitions. We incorporate spin mixing and compare our calculated spectrum and decay widths with the available experimental $B_c$ masses and the theoretically predicted spectra and the decay widths by other groups. Our results can help consider both conventional and hybrid quantum numbers to $B_c$ mesons as experimental results become available.

Light hadron spectroscopy at BESIII

Light hadron spectroscopy is one of the most important physics goals of high statistics of charmonium decays collected at BESIII which provide an excellent place for hunting gluonic excitations and studying strangeonium. In this proceeding, we will introduce two analyses for gluonic states study on η(1405)/η(1475) puzzle, X(1835) and exotic states and two analyses for strangeonium(like) states study on Y(2175) and Zs state.

Jefferson Lab Report

Jefferson Laboratory is finishing a major upgrade and has already started operations with the 12 GeV continuous electron beam. The main research direction is the study of the structure of hadrons, including a search for gluon excitations in the spectra of light mesons and baryons, and studies of multidimensional images of the nucleon. Studied of certain properties of atomic nuclei are also ongoing. There is also an active program of searching for effects beyond the Standard Model in parity-violating electron scattering, as well as a search for new particles.

Born-Oppenheimer approximation in an effective field theory language

The Born--Oppenheimer approximation is the standard tool for the study of molecular systems. It is founded on the observation that the energy scale of the electron dynamics in a molecule is larger than that of the nuclei. A very similar physical picture can be used to describe QCD states containing heavy quarks as well as light-quarks or gluonic excitations. In this work, we derive the Born--Oppenheimer approximation for QED molecular systems in an effective field theory framework by sequentially integrating out degrees of freedom living at energies above the typical energy scale where the dynamics of the heavy degrees of freedom occurs. In particular, we compute the matching coefficients of the effective field theory for the case of the $H^+_2$ diatomic molecule that are relevant to compute its spectrum up to ${\cal O}(m\alpha^5)$. Ultrasoft photon loops contribute at this order, being ultimately responsible for the molecular Lamb shift. In the effective field theory the scaling of all the operators is homogeneous, which facilitates the determination of all the relevant contributions, an observation that may become useful for high-precision calculations. Using the above case as a guidance, we construct under some conditions an effective field theory for QCD states formed by a color-octet heavy quark-antiquark pair bound with a color-octet light-quark pair or excited gluonic state, highlighting the similarities and differences between the QED and QCD systems. Assuming that the multipole expansion is applicable, we construct the heavy-quark potential up to next-to-leading order in the multipole expansion in terms of nonperturbative matching coefficients to be obtained from lattice QCD.

Colour fields of the quark-antiquark excited flux tube

We present colour field density profiles for some of the first SU(3) gluonic excitations of the flux tube in the presence of a static quark-antiquark pair. The results are obtained from a large set of gluonic operators.

Light Hadron Spectroscopy at BESIII

BESIII has collected [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] of [Formula: see text], which are the world’s largest data samples of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] from [Formula: see text] collision. Radiative decays of charmonium provide a gluon-rich environment and are therefore regarded as one of the most promising hunting grounds for gluonic excitations. Significant progresses in the light-quark sector have been made with the unprecedented high statistics data sets. Several recent results on light hadron spectroscopy and light hadron decays will be reported, including: 1, the observation of the anomalous line shape of [Formula: see text] near [Formula: see text] mass threshold and related studies; 2, studies of glueballs in [Formula: see text] radiative decays; 3, search for [Formula: see text] exotic in [Formula: see text].

On possible contribution of partons’ orbital momentum to the proton spin

Virtual parton excitations of proton achieve status of real particles after transition into the infinite momentum frame. In particular, QCD evolution of them should respect the conservation laws which in turn should be a necessary consequence of symmetry properties. I argue that these simple reasons may cast light on the so-called proton spin puzzle and upon an orbital momentum contribution of quarks and gluons to the proton spin. An already fulfilled experiment with a hint on possible observation of orbital excitations of gluons is pointed out.

The GlueX DIRC project

The GlueX experiment was designed to search for and study the pattern of gluonic excitations in the meson spectrum produced through photoproduction reactions at a new tagged photon beam facility in Hall D at Jefferson Laboratory. The particle identification capabilities of the GlueX experiment will be enhanced by constructing a DIRC (Detection of Internally Reflected Cherenkov light) detector, utilizing components of the decommissioned BaBar DIRC. The DIRC will allow systematic studies of kaon final states that are essential for inferring the quark flavor content of both hybrid and conventional mesons. The design for the GlueX DIRC is presented, including the new expansion volumes that are currently under development.

Kaluza–Klein gluon + jets associated production at the Large Hadron Collider

The Kaluza-Klein excitations of gluons offer the exciting possibility of probing bulk Randall-Sundrum (RS) models. In these bulk models either a custodial symmetry or a deformation of the metric away from AdS is invoked in order to deal with electroweak precision tests. Addressing both these models, we suggest a new channel in which to study the production of KK-gluons ($g_{KK}$): one where it is produced in association with one or more hard jets. The cross-section for the $g_{KK}+$ jets channel is significant because of several contributing sub-processes. In particular, the 1-jet and the 2-jet associated processes are important because at these orders in QCD the $qg$ and the $gg$ initial states respectively come into play. We have performed a hadron-level simulation of the signal and present strategies to effectively extract the signal from what could potentially be a huge background. We present results for the kinematic reach of the LHC Run-II for different $g_{KK}$ masses in bulk-RS models.

Anomalous pion production induced by nontrivial topological structure of QCD vacuum

A new mechanism for the pion production in the high energy reactions is suggested. It is related to the possibility for direct production of the pions induced by instantons, topologically nontrivial gluonic excitations of QCD vacuum. This mechanism does not require any fragmentation functions for production of pseudoscalar mesons in high energy reactions with hadrons. We calculate the contribution of a new mechanism to the inclusive $\pi^0$-meson production in high energy proton-proton collision. It is shown that it gives the dominated contribution to the inclusive cross-sections in the few GeV region for the transverse momentum of final pion. We discuss the possible application of a new mechanism to the phenomenon of the large spin effects observed in the numerous high energy reactions.