Nonzero Baryon Research Articles

Net-baryon diffusion in fluid-dynamic simulations of relativistic heavy-ion collisions

A hybrid (hydrodynamics + hadronic transport) theoretical framework is assembled to model the bulk dynamics of relativistic heavy-ion collisions at energies accessible in the Beam Energy Scan (BES) program at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC) and the NA61/SHINE experiment at CERN. The system's energy-momentum tensor and net baryon current are evolved according to relativistic hydrodynamics with finite shear viscosity and non-zero net baryon diffusion. Our hydrodynamic description is matched to a hadronic transport model in the dilute region. With this fully integrated theoretical framework, we present a pilot study of the hadronic chemistry, particle spectra, and anisotropic flow. Phenomenological effects of a non-zero net-baryon current and its diffusion on hadronic observables are presented for the first time. The importance of the hadronic transport phase is also investigated.

Drag force on heavy diquarks and gauge/string duality

We use gauge/string duality to model a doubly heavy diquark in a color antitriplet moving in a thermal plasma at temperatures near the critical. With the assumption that there is no relative motion between the constituents, we calculate the drag force on the diquark. At high enough speed we find that diquark string configurations develop a cusp. In addition, we estimate the spatial string tension at non-zero baryon chemical potential, and also briefly discuss an extension to a triply heavy triquark in a color triplet.

Duality and Charged Pion Condensation in Chirally Asymmetric Dense Quark Matter in the Framework of an NJL2 Model

In this talk we present investigation of the phase structure of a (1+1)-dimensional quark model with four-quark interaction and in the presence of baryon ([Formula: see text]), isospin ([Formula: see text]) and chiral isospin ([Formula: see text]) chemical potentials. Spatially homogeneous and inhomogeneous (chiral density wave (for chiral condensate) and single wave (for charged pion condensate)) condensates are considered. It is established that in the large-[Formula: see text] limit ([Formula: see text] is the number of colored quarks) there exists a duality correspondence between the chiral symmetry breaking phase and the charged pion condensation (PC) one. The primary conclusion of this investigation is the fact that chiral isospin chemical potential generates charged pion condensation with non-zero baryon density in dense quark matter. Moreover, it is shown that inhomogeneous charged PC phase with nonzero baryon density is induced in the model by arbitrary small values of the chemical potential [Formula: see text] (for a rather large region of [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]).

Thermodynamics and relativistic kinetic theory for q-generalized Bose\u2013Einstein and Fermi\u2013Dirac systems

The thermodynamics and covariant kinetic theory are elaborately investigated in a non-extensive environment considering the non-extensive generalization of Bose–Einstein (BE) and Fermi–Dirac (FD) statistics. Starting with Tsallis’ entropy formula, the fundamental principles of thermostatistics are established for a grand canonical system having q-generalized BE/FD degrees of freedom. Many particle kinetic theory is set up in terms of the relativistic transport equation with q-generalized Uehling–Uhlenbeck collision term. The conservation laws are realized in terms of appropriate moments of the transport equation. The thermodynamic quantities are obtained in a weak non-extensive environment for a massive pion–nucleon and a massless quark–gluon system with non-zero baryon chemical potential. In order to get an estimate of the impact of non-extensivity on the system dynamics, the q-modified Debye mass and hence the q-modified effective coupling are estimated for a quark–gluon system.

Affinity of NJL2 and NJL4 model results on duality and pion condensation in chiral asymmetric dense quark matter

In this paper we investigate the phase structure of a (1+1) and (3+1)-dimensional quark model with four-quark interaction and in the presence of baryon (μB), isospin (μI) and chiral isospin (μI5) chemical potentials. It is shown that the chemical potential μI5 promotes the appearance of the charged PC phase with nonzero baryon density. Results of both models are qualitatively the same, this fact enhances one's confidence in the obtained predictions. It is established that in the large-Nc limit (Nc is the number of colored quarks) there exists a duality correspondence between the chiral symmetry breaking phase and the charged pion condensation one.

Kinetic equations and anisotropic hydrodynamics for quark and gluon fluids

The mixture of quark and gluon fluids is studied in a one-dimensional boostinvariant setup using the set of relativistic kinetic equations treated in the relaxation time approximation. Effects of a finite quark mass, non-zero baryon number density, and quantum statistics are discussed. Comparisons between the exact kinetic-theory results and anisotropic hydrodynamics predictions are performed and a very good agreement between the two are found.

Baryon asymmetry and gravitational waves from pseudoscalar inflation

In models of inflation driven by an axion-like pseudoscalar field, the inflaton, a, may couple to the standard model hypercharge via a Chern-Simons-type interaction, ℒ ⊃ a/(4Λ) FF̃. This coupling results in explosive gauge field production during inflation, especially at its last stage, which has interesting phenomenological consequences: For one thing, the primordial hypermagnetic field is maximally helical. It is thus capable of sourcing the generation of nonzero baryon number, via the standard model chiral anomaly, around the time of electroweak symmetry breaking. For another thing, the gauge field production during inflation feeds back into the primordial tensor power spectrum, leaving an imprint in the stochastic background of gravitational waves (GWs). In this paper, we focus on the correlation between these two phenomena. Working in the approximation of instant reheating, we (1) update the investigation of baryogenesis via hypermagnetic fields from pseudoscalar inflation and (2) examine the corresponding implications for the GW spectrum. We find that successful baryogenesis requires a suppression scale Λ of around Λ ∼ 3 × 1017 GeV, which corresponds to a relatively weakly coupled axion. The gauge field production at the end of inflation is then typically accompanied by a peak in the GW spectrum at frequencies in the MHz range or above. The detection of such a peak is out of reach of present-day technology; but in the future, it may serve as a smoking-gun signal for baryogenesis from pseudoscalar inflation. Conversely, models that do yield an observable GW signal suffer from the overproduction of baryon number, unless the reheating temperature is lower than the electroweak scale.

A hybrid approach to relativistic heavy-ion collisions at the RHIC BES energies

Using a hybrid (viscous hydrodynamics + hadronic cascade) framework, we model the bulk dynamical evolution of relativistic heavy-ion collisions at Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) Beam Energy Scan (BES) collision energies, including the effects from non-zero net baryon current and its dissipative diffusion. This framework is in full (3+1)D, which allows us to study the non-trivial longitudinal structure and dynamics of the collision systems, for example baryon stopping and transport, as well as longitudinal fluctuations. For the first time, the quantitative effect of net-baryon diffusion on hadronic observables is addressed. Finally, we propose a dynamical initialization scheme to study the importance of the pre-equilibrium stage at the RHIC BES energies.

Conserved charge fluctuations at vanishing and non-vanishing chemical potential

Up to 6th order cumulants of fluctuations of net baryon-number, net electric charge and net strangeness as well as correlations among these conserved charge fluctuations are now being calculated in lattice QCD. These cumulants provide a wealth of information on the properties of strong-interaction matter in the transition region from the low temperature hadronic phase to the quark-gluon plasma phase. They can be used to quantify deviations from hadron resonance gas (HRG) model calculations which frequently are used to determine thermal conditions realized in heavy ion collision experiments. Already some second order cumulants like the correlations between net baryon-number and net strangeness or net electric charge differ significantly at temperatures above 155 MeV in QCD and HRG model calculations. We show that these differences increase at non-zero baryon chemical potential constraining the applicability range of HRG model calculations to even smaller values of the temperature.

Inhomogeneous charged pion condensation in chiral asymmetric dense quark matter in the framework of a NJL2 model

In this paper we investigate the phase structure of a ($1+1$)-dimensional quark model with four-quark interaction and in the presence of baryon (${\ensuremath{\mu}}_{B}$), isospin (${\ensuremath{\mu}}_{I}$), and chiral isospin (${\ensuremath{\mu}}_{I5}$) chemical potentials. Spatially inhomogeneous chiral density wave (for chiral condensate) and single wave (for charged pion condensate) approaches are used. It is established that in the large-${N}_{c}$ limit (${N}_{c}$ is the number of colored quarks) there exists a duality correspondence between the chiral symmetry breaking phase and the charged pion condensation (PC) one. Moreover, it is shown that inhomogeneous charged PC phase with nonzero baryon density is induced in the model by arbitrary small values of the chemical potential ${\ensuremath{\mu}}_{I5}$ (for a rather large region of ${\ensuremath{\mu}}_{B}$ and ${\ensuremath{\mu}}_{I}$).

Complex Langevin dynamics and zeroes of the fermion determinant

QCD at nonzero baryon chemical potential suffers from the sign problem, due to the complex quark determinant. Complex Langevin dynamics can provide a solution, provided certain conditions are met. One of these conditions, holomorphicity of the Langevin drift, is absent in QCD since zeroes of the determinant result in a meromorphic drift. We first derive how poles in the drift affect the formal justification of the approach and then explore the various possibilities in simple models. The lessons from these are subsequently applied to both heavy dense QCD and full QCD, and we find that the results obtained show a consistent picture. We conclude that with careful monitoring, the method can be justified a posteriori, even in the presence of meromorphicity.

Phenomenological consequences of enhanced bulk viscosity near the QCD critical point

In the proximity of the QCD critical point the bulk viscosity of quark-gluon matter is expected to be proportional to nearly the third power of the critical correlation length, and become significantly enhanced. This work is the first attempt to study the phenomenological consequences of enhanced bulk viscosity near the QCD critical point. For this purpose, we implement the expected critical behavior of the bulk viscosity within a non-boost-invariant, longitudinally expanding $1+1$ dimensional causal relativistic hydrodynamical evolution at non-zero baryon density. We demonstrate that the critically-enhanced bulk viscosity induces a substantial non-equilibrium pressure, effectively softening the equation of state, and leads to sizable effects in the flow velocity and single particle distributions at the freeze-out. The observable effects that may arise due to the enhanced bulk viscosity in the vicinity of the QCD critical point can be used as complimentary information to facilitate searches for the QCD critical point.

The Phase Diagram in the Vector Meson Extended Linear Sigma Model

We investigate the chiral phase transition of the strongly interacting matter at nonzero temperature and baryon chemical potential $\mu_B$ within an extended (2+1) flavor Polyakov constituent quark-meson model which incorporates the effect of the vector and axial vector mesons. The parameters of the model are determined by comparing masses and tree-level decay widths with experimental values. We examine the restoration of the chiral symmetry by monitoring the temperature evolution of condensates. We study the $T-\rho_B$ phase diagram of the model and find that a critical end point exists, although at very low density.

Complex Langevin simulations of a finite density matrix model for QCD

We study a random matrix model for QCD at finite density via complex Langevin dynamics. This model has a phase transition to a phase with nonzero baryon density. We study the convergence of the algorithm as a function of the quark mass and the chemical potential and focus on two main observables: the baryon density and the chiral condensate. For simulations close to the chiral limit, the algorithm has wrong convergence properties when the quark mass is in the spectral domain of the Dirac operator. A possible solution of this problem is discussed.

Phase diagram of dense two-color QCD within lattice simulations

We present the results of a low-temperature scan of the phase diagram of dense two-color QCD with Nf = 2 quarks. The study is conducted using lattice simulation with rooted staggered quarks. At small chemical potential we observe the hadronic phase, where the theory is in a confining state, chiral symmetry is broken, the baryon density is zero and there is no diquark condensate. At the critical point μ = mπ /2 we observe the expected second order transition to Bose-Einstein condensation of scalar diquarks. In this phase the system is still in confinement in conjunction with nonzero baryon density, but the chiral symmetry is restored in the chiral limit. We have also found that in the first two phases the system is well described by chiral perturbation theory. For larger values of the chemical potential the system turns into another phase, where the relevant degrees of freedom are fermions residing inside the Fermi sphere, and the diquark condensation takes place on the Fermi surface. In this phase the system is still in confinement, chiral symmetry is restored and the system is very similar to the quarkyonic state predicted by SU (Nc ) theory at large Nc .

Duality between chiral symmetry breaking and charged pion condensation at large Nc : Consideration of an NJL2 model with baryon, isospin, and chiral isospin chemical potentials

In this paper we investigate the phase structure of a (1+1)-dimensional schematic quark model with four-quark interaction and in the presence of baryon ($\mu_B$), isospin ($\mu_I$) and chiral isospin ($\mu_{I5}$) chemical potentials. It is established that in the large-$N_c$ limit ($N_c$ is the number of colored quarks) there exists a duality correspondence between the chiral symmetry breaking phase and the charged pion condensation (PC) one. The role and influence of this property on the phase structure of the model are studied. Moreover, it is shown that the chemical potential $\mu_{I5}$ promotes the appearance of the charged PC phase with nonzero baryon density.

Study of the phase diagram of dense two-color QCD within lattice simulation

In this paper we carry out a low-temperature scan of the phase diagram of dense two-color QCD with $N_f=2$ quarks. The study is conducted using lattice simulation with rooted staggered quarks. At small chemical potential we observe the hadronic phase, where the theory is in a confining state, chiral symmetry is broken, the baryon density is zero and there is no diquark condensate. At the critical point $\mu = m_{\pi}/2$ we observe the expected second order transition to Bose-Einstein condensation of scalar diquarks. In this phase the system is still in confinement in conjunction with non-zero baryon density, but the chiral symmetry is restored in the chiral limit. We have also found that in the first two phases the system is well described by chiral perturbation theory. For larger values of the chemical potential the system turns into another phase, where the relevant degrees of freedom are fermions residing inside the Fermi sphere, and the diquark condensation takes place on the Fermi surface. In this phase the system is still in confinement, chiral symmetry is restored and the system is very similar to the quarkyonic state predicted by SU($N_c$) theory at large $N_c$.

Color screening masses from string models

We use gauge/string duality to estimate the Debye screening mass at non-zero temperature and baryon chemical potential. We interpret this mass as the smallest one in the open string channel. Comparisons are made with the results from holography and lattice QCD.

Sharing but not caring: dark matter and the baryon asymmetry of the universe

We consider scenarios where Dark Matter (DM) particles carry baryon and/or lepton numbers, which can be defined if there exist operators connecting the dark to the visible sector. As a result, the DM fields become intimately linked to the Standard Model (SM) ones and can be maximally asymmetric just like the ordinary matter. In particular, we discuss minimal scenarios where the DM is a complex scalar or a Dirac fermion coupled to operators with nonzero baryon and/or lepton numbers, and that consist of only SM fields. We consider an initial asymmetry stored in either the SM or the DM sector; the main role of these operators is to properly share the asymmetry between the two sectors, in accordance with observations. After the chemical decoupling, the DM and SM sectors do not care about each other as there is only an ineffective communication between them. Once the DM mass is specified, the Wilson coefficients of these operators are fixed by the requirement of the correct transfer of the asymmetry. We study the phenomenology of this framework at colliders, direct detection and indirect detection experiments. In particular, the LHC phenomenology is very rich and can be tested in different channels such as the two same-sign leptons with two jets, monojet and monojet with a monolepton.

Holographic heavy ion collisions with baryon charge

We numerically simulate collisions of charged shockwaves in Einstein-Maxwell theory in anti-de Sitter space as a toy model of heavy ion collisions with non-zero baryon charge. The stress tensor and the baryon current become well described by charged hydrodynamics at roughly the same time. The effect of the charge density on generic observables is typically no larger than 15\%. %The rapidity profile of the charge is wider than the profile of the local energy density. We find significant stopping of the baryon charge and compare our results with those in heavy ion collision experiments.