Enhancement of low-mass dileptons in heavy-ion collisions

Using a relativistic transport model for the expansion stage of S+Au collisions at 200 GeV/nucleon, we show that the recently observed enhancement of low-mass dileptons by the CERES collaboration can be explained by the decrease of vector meson masses in hot and dense hadronic matter.Comment: 12 pages, RevTeX, 3 figures available from [email protected]

Competition of Superconductivity and Antiferromagnetism in a d-Wave Vortex Lattice

The d-wave vortex lattice state is studied within the framework of Bogoliubov-de Gennes (BdG) mean field theory. We allow antiferromagnetic (AFM) order to develop self-consistently along with d-wave singlet superconducting (dSC) order in response to an external magnetic field that generates vortices. The resulting AFM order has strong peaks at the vortex centers, and changes sign, creating domain walls along lines where $\nabla \times j_s \approx 0$. The length scale for decay of this AFM order is found to be much larger than the bare d-wave coherence length, $\xi$. Coexistence of dSC and AFM order in this system is shown to induce $\pi$-triplet superconducting order. Competition between different orders is found to suppress the local density of states at the vortex center and comparison to recent experimental findings is discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure

Dilepton production in proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions at SPS energies

Dilepton production in proton- and nucleus-induced reactions is studied in relativistic transport model using initial conditions determined by the string dynamics from RQMD. It is found that both the CERES and HELIOS-3 data for dilepton spectra in proton-nucleus reactions can be well described by the `conventional' mechanism of Dalitz decay and direct vector meson decay. However, to provide a quantitative explanation of the observed dilepton spectra in central S+Au and S+W collisions requires contributions other than these direct decays. Introducing a decrease of vector meson masses in hot and dense medium, we find that these heavy-ion data can also be satisfactorily explained. This agrees with our earlier conclusions based on a fire cylinder model. We also give predictions for Pb+Au collisions at 160 GeV/nucleon using current CERES mass resolution and acceptance.Comment: RevTeX, 45 pages, including 21 postscript figures, to be published in Nuclear Physics

QED3 theory of underdoped high temperature superconductors

Low-energy theory of d-wave quasiparticles coupled to fluctuating vortex loops that describes the loss of phase coherence in a two dimensional d-wave superconductor at T=0 is derived. The theory has the form of 2+1 dimensional quantum electrodynamics (QED3), and is proposed as an effective description of the T=0 superconductor-insulator transition in underdoped cuprates. The coupling constant ("charge") in this theory is proportional to the dual order parameter of the XY model, which is assumed to be describing the quantum fluctuations of the phase of the superconducting order parameter. The principal result is that the destruction of phase coherence in d-wave superconductors typically, and immediately, leads to antiferromagnetism. The transition can be understood in terms of the spontaneous breaking of an approximate "chiral" SU(2) symmetry, which may be discerned at low enough energies in the standard d-wave superconductor. The mechanism of the symmetry breaking is analogous to the dynamical mass generation in the QED3, with the "mass" here being proportional to staggered magnetization. Other insulating phases that break chiral symmetry include the translationally invariant "d+ip" and "d+is" insulators, and various one dimensional charge-density and spin-density waves. The theory offers an explanation for the rounded d-wave-like dispersion seen in ARPES experiments on Ca2CuO2Cl2 (F. Ronning et. al., Science 282, 2067 (1998)).Comment: Revtex, 20 pages, 5 figures; this is a much extended follow-up to the Phys. Rev. Lett. vol.88, 047006 (2002) (cond-mat/0110188); improved presentation, many additional explanations, comments, and references added, sec. IV rewritten. Final version, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Effects of in-medium vector meson masses on low-mass dileptons from SPS heavy-ion collisions

Using a relativistic transport model to describe the expansion of the fire-cylinder formed in the initial stage of heavy-ion collisions at SPS/CERN energies, we study the production of dileptons with mass below about 1 GeV from these collisions. The initial hadron abundance and their momentum distributions in the fire-cylinder are determined by following the general features of the results from microscopic models based on the string dynamics and further requiring that the final proton and pion spectra and rapidity distributions are in agreement with available experimental data. For dilepton production, we include the Dalitz decay of $\pi ^0$, $\eta$, $\eta^\prime$, $\omega$ and $a_1$ mesons, the direct decay of primary $\rho ^0$, $\omega$ and $\phi$ mesons, and the pion-pion annihilation that proceeds through the $\rho^0$ meson, the pion-rho annihilation that proceeds through the $a_1$ meson, and the kaon-antikaon annihilation that proceeds through the $\phi$ meson. We find that the modification of vector meson properties, especially the decrease of their mass due to the partial restoration of chiral symmetry, in hot and dense hadronic matter, provides a quantitative explanation of the recently observed enhancement of low-mass dileptons by the CERES collaboration in central S+Au collisions and by the HELIOS-3 collaboration in central S+W collisions.Comment: 46 pages, LaTeX, figures available from [email protected], to appear in Nucl. Phys.

Search for direct production of charginos and neutralinos in events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in √s = 7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with three electrons or muons and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in three signal regions that are either depleted or enriched in Z-boson decays. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set in R-parity conserving phenomenological minimal supersymmetric models and in simplified models, significantly extending previous results

Measurement of D*+/- meson production in jets from pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper reports a measurement of D*+/- meson production in jets from proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The measurement is based on a data sample recorded with the ATLAS detector with an integrated luminosity of 0.30 pb^-1 for jets with transverse momentum between 25 and 70 GeV in the pseudorapidity range |eta| < 2.5. D*+/- mesons found in jets are fully reconstructed in the decay chain: D*+ -> D0pi+, D0 -> K-pi+, and its charge conjugate. The production rate is found to be N(D*+/-)/N(jet) = 0.025 +/- 0.001(stat.) +/- 0.004(syst.) for D*+/- mesons that carry a fraction z of the jet momentum in the range 0.3 < z < 1. Monte Carlo predictions fail to describe the data at small values of z, and this is most marked at low jet transverse momentum.Comment: 10 pages plus author list (22 pages total), 5 figures, 1 table, matches published version in Physical Review

Search for supersymmetry in final states with jets, missing transverse momentum and one isolated lepton in sqrt{s} = 7 TeV pp collisions using 1 fb-1 of ATLAS data

We present an update of a search for supersymmetry in final states containing jets, missing transverse momentum, and one isolated electron or muon, using 1.04 fb^-1 of proton-proton collision data at sqrt{s} = 7 TeV recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC in the first half of 2011. The analysis is carried out in four distinct signal regions with either three or four jets and variations on the (missing) transverse momentum cuts, resulting in optimized limits for various supersymmetry models. No excess above the standard model background expectation is observed. Limits are set on the visible cross-section of new physics within the kinematic requirements of the search. The results are interpreted as limits on the parameters of the minimal supergravity framework, limits on cross-sections of simplified models with specific squark and gluino decay modes, and limits on parameters of a model with bilinear R-parity violation.Comment: 18 pages plus author list (30 pages total), 9 figures, 4 tables, final version to appear in Physical Review

Reducing heterotic M-theory to five dimensional supergravity on a manifold with boundary

This paper constructs the reduction of heterotic $M$-theory in eleven dimensions to a supergravity model on a manifold with boundary in five dimensions using a Calabi-Yau three-fold. New results are presented for the boundary terms in the action and for the boundary conditions on the bulk fields. Some general features of dualisation on a manifold with boundary are used to explain the origin of some topological terms in the action. The effect of gaugino condensation on the fermion boundary conditions leads to a `twist' in the chirality of the gravitino which can provide an uplifting mechanism in the vacuum energy to cancel the cosmological constant after moduli stabilisation.Comment: 16 pages, RevTe