Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS April Meeting 2013
Volume 58, Number 4
Saturday–Tuesday, April 13–16, 2013; Denver, Colorado
Session D3: Invited Session: The Search for the QCD Critical Point |
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Sponsoring Units: DNP GHP Chair: Agnes Mocsy, Pratt Institute Room: Plaza E |
Saturday, April 13, 2013 3:30PM - 4:06PM |
D3.00001: Lattice QCD results at non-zero temperatures and densities Invited Speaker: Swagato Mukherjee This talk will provide a brief overview of the recent results, relevant for heavy-ion collision experiments, obtained from ab-initio lattice QCD computations at non-zero temperatures and densities. The talk will include recent lattice QCD results on the QCD transition at non-zero temperature and density, equation of state and other transport properties of the strongly interacting quark gluon plasma and finally results on the conserved charge fluctuations that are specially relevant for the RHIC beam energy scan program. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, April 13, 2013 4:06PM - 4:42PM |
D3.00002: Condensed matter approach to a partonic system - The energy scan at RHIC Invited Speaker: Michael Lisa Measurements at RHIC and the LHC show clear evidence for the creation of a short-lived color-deconfined phase in heavy ion collisions. The confinement of color charge due to the non-Abelian nature of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) is the hallmark of the Strong interaction. A deeper understanding of this defining feature is best explored by experimental studies at the natural scale of the theory. A major program at RHIC aims to explore the phase diagram of QCD matter by studying a comprehensive suite of observables while systematically varying the beam energy. Details of nontrivial structures in the phase diagram may shed light on the nature of deconfinement and symmetries of the theory. I will discuss the status of the energy scan program-- what has been learned and what may yet be learned. I will also discuss several interesting analogies with an entirely different area of physics exploring phase structures in highly dynamic systems. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, April 13, 2013 4:42PM - 5:18PM |
D3.00003: New advances in the hydrodynamic description of the QCD critical point in heavy-ion collisions Invited Speaker: Marlene Nahrgang Hydrodynamics has been very successful in explaining a variety of data from heavy-ion collision experiments. An essential ingredient is the equation of state, which allows for the study of the impact of different descriptions of the QCD medium and of the phase transition on the evolution of the bulk matter. At the critical point the correlation length of fluctuations of the order parameter diverges in thermodynamic systems. At the same time the relaxation times become infinite at the critical point, which in dynamic systems weakens critical phenomena. In order to provide solid predictions for event-by-event fluctuations of observables extensions of previous studies to dynamic systems are crucial to guide the search for the discovery of the critical point in heavy-ion collision experiments, like the beam energy scan at RHIC, BNL. A hydrodynamic description of the expanding matter, which takes further restrictions of the system like its inhomogeneity and finite size into account, is especially suitable because the order parameter oscillates slowly at the critical point and can thus be described as a collective variable within a hydrodynamic setup. First models, which propagate the fluctuations of the order parameter explicitly by a coupling to a hydrodynamically expanding heat bath, are able to see dynamic effects like critical slowing down at the critical point and supercooling at the first order phase transition. Latest results show that for the first order phase transition this leads to the phenomenon of domain formation. At the critical point the enhancement of event-by-event fluctuations can be observed. These explicitly dynamic models are thus a promising approach to a realistic description of the QCD critical point in heavy-ion collisions. In this talk I will review recent advances in our understanding of the phase transition obtained within hydrodynamic models and outline possible approaches to future contributions to the search for the QCD critical point. [Preview Abstract] |
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