arXiv subjects

Akira Ohnishi

Publications and source records attributed to Akira Ohnishi.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Comparison of heavy-ion transport simulations: Collision integral in a box

Simulations by transport codes are indispensable to extract valuable physics information from heavy ion collisions. In order to understand the origins of discrepancies between different widely used transport codes, we compare 15 such codes under controlled conditions of a system confined to a box with periodic boundary, initialized with Fermi-Dirac distributions at saturation density and temperatures of either 0 or 5 MeV. In such calculations, one is able to check separately the different ingredients of a transport code. In this second publication of the code evaluation project, we only consider the two-body collision term, i.e. we perform cascade calculations. When the Pauli blocking is artificially suppressed, the collision rates are found to be consistent for most codes (to within $1\%$ or better) with analytical results, or completely controlled results of a basic cascade code after eliminating the correlations within the same pair of colliding particles. In calculations with active Pauli blocking, the blocking probability was found to deviate from the expected reference values. The reason is found in substantial phase-space fluctuations and smearing tied to numerical algorithms and model assumptions in the representation of phase space. This results in the reduction of the blocking probability in most transport codes, so that the simulated system gradually evolves away from the Fermi-Dirac towards a Boltzmann distribution. As a result of this investigation, we are able to make judgements about the most effective strategies in transport simulations for determining the collision probabilities and the Pauli blocking. Investigation in a similar vein of other ingredients in transport calculations, like the mean field propagation or the production of nucleon resonances and mesons, will be discussed in the future publications.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2018

Probing neutron-proton dynamics by pions

In order to investigate the nuclear symmetry energy at high density, we study the pion production in central collisions of neutron-rich nuclei ${}^{132}\mathrm{Sn}+{}^{124}\mathrm{Sn}$ at 300 MeV/nucleon using a new approach by combining the antisymmetrized molecular dynamics (AMD) and a hadronic cascade model (JAM). The dynamics of neutrons and protons is solved by AMD, and then pions and $Δ$ resonances in the reaction process are handled by JAM. We see the mechanism how the $Δ$ resonance and pions are produced reflecting the dynamics of neutrons and protons. We also investigate the impacts of cluster correlations as well as of the high-density symmetry energy on the nucleon dynamics and consequently on the pion ratio. We find that the $Δ^-/Δ^{++}$ production ratio agrees very well with the neutron-proton squared ratio $(N/Z)^2$ in the high-density and high-momentum region. We show quantitatively that $Δ$ production ratio, and therefore $(N/Z)^2$, are directly reflected in the $π^-/π^+$ ratio, with modification in the final stage of the reaction.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2017

Application of neural network to sign problem via path optimization method

We introduce the feedforward neural network to attack the sign problem via the path optimization method. The variables of integration is complexified and the integration path is optimized in the complexified space by minimizing the cost function which reflects the seriousness of the sign problem. For the preparation and optimization of the integral path in multi-dimensional systems, we utilize the feedforward neural network. We examine the validity and usefulness of the method in the two-dimensional complex $λϕ^4$ theory at finite chemical potential as an example of the quantum field theory having the sign problem. We show that the average phase factor is significantly enhanced after the optimization and then we can safely perform the hybrid Monte-Carlo method.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2017

Investigation of confinement-deconfinement transition via probability distributions

We investigate the confinement-deconfinement transition at finite temperature in terms of the probability distribution of Polyakov-loop complex-phase via the Jensen-Shannon divergence. The Jensen-Shannon divergence quantifies the difference of two probability distributions, namely the target and reference probability distributions. We adopt the complex-phase distributions of the spatially averaged Polyakov loop at $μ/T=0$ and $μ/T=iπ/3$ as the target and reference distributions, respectively. It is shown that the Jensen-Shannon divergence has the inflection point when the target system approaches the Roberge-Weiss endpoint temperature even in the finite-volume system. This means that we can detect the confinement-deconfinement transition from the structural change of probability distributions when we suitably set the reference probability distribution. It is also shown that we can pick up the information of the confinement-deconfinement transition from the quark number density by using the Fourier decomposition; Fourier coefficients have a long tail at around the transition temperature and show a divergent series in calculating the normalized kurtosis.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2017

Path optimization method for the sign problem

We propose a path optimization method (POM) to evade the sign problem in the Monte-Carlo calculations for complex actions. Among many approaches to the sign problem, the Lefschetz-thimble path-integral method and the complex Langevin method are promising and extensively discussed. In these methods, real field variables are complexified and the integration manifold is determined by the flow equations or stochastically sampled. When we have singular points of the action or multiple critical points near the original integral surface, however, we have a risk to encounter the residual and global sign problems or the singular drift term problem. One of the ways to avoid the singular points is to optimize the integration path which is designed not to hit the singular points of the Boltzmann weight. By specifying the one-dimensional integration-path as $z=t+if(t) (f\in \mathbb{R})$ and by optimizing $f(t)$ to enhance the average phase factor, we demonstrate that we can avoid the sign problem in a one-variable toy model for which the complex Langevin method is found to fail. In this proceedings, we propose POM and discuss how we can avoid the sign problem in a toy model. We also discuss the possibility to utilize the neural network to optimize the path.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2017

Toward solving the sign problem with path optimization method

We propose a new approach to circumvent the sign problem in which the integration path is optimized to control the sign problem. We give a trial function specifying the integration path in the complex plane and tune it to optimize the cost function which represents the seriousness of the sign problem. We call it the path optimization method. In this method, we do not need to solve the gradient flow required in the Lefschetz-thimble method and then the construction of the integration-path contour arrives at the optimization problem where several efficient methods can be applied. In a simple model with a serious sign problem, the path optimization method is demonstrated to work well; the residual sign problem is resolved and precise results can be obtained even in the region where the global sign problem is serious.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2017

Symmetry Parameter Constraints From A Lower Bound On The Neutron-Matter Energy

We propose the existence of a lower bound on the energy of pure neutron matter (PNM) on the basis of unitary-gas considerations. We discuss its justification from experimental studies of cold atoms as well as from theoretical studies of neutron matter. We demonstrate that this bound results in limits to the density-dependent symmetry energy, which is the difference between the energies of symmetric nuclear matter and PNM. In particular, this bound leads to a lower limit to the volume symmetry energy parameter $S_0$. In addition, for assumed values of $S_0$ above this minimum, this bound implies both upper and lower limits to the symmetry energy slope parameter $L$, which describes the lowest-order density dependence of the symmetry energy. A lower bound on the neutron-matter incompressibility is also obtained. These bounds are found to be consistent with both recent calculations of the energies of PNM and constraints from nuclear experiments. Our results are significant because several equations of state that are currently used in astrophysical simulations of supernovae and neutron star mergers, as well as in nuclear physics simulations of heavy-ion collisions, have symmetry energy parameters that violate these bounds. Furthermore, below the nuclear saturation density, the bound on neutron-matter energies leads to a lower limit to the density-dependent symmetry energy, which leads to upper limits to the nuclear surface symmetry parameter and the neutron-star crust-core boundary. We also obtain a lower limit to the neutron-skin thicknesses of neutron-rich nuclei. Above the nuclear saturation density, the bound on neutron-matter energies also leads to an upper limit to the symmetry energy, with implications for neutron-star cooling via the direct Urca process.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2017

Superfluid Fermi atomic gas as a quantum simulator for the study of neutron-star equation of state

We theoretically propose an idea to use an ultracold Fermi gas as a quantum simulator for the study of the neutron-star equation of state (EoS) in the low-density region. Our idea is different from the standard quantum simulator that heads for {\it perfect} replication of another system, such as a Hubbard model discussed in high-$T_{\rm c}$ cuprates. Instead, we use the {\it similarity} between two systems, and theoretically make up for the difference between them. That is, (1) we first show that the strong-coupling theory developed by Nozières-Schmitt Rink (NSR) can quantitatively explain the recent EoS experiment on a $^6$Li superfluid Fermi gas in the BCS (Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer)-unitary limit far below the superfluid phase transition temperature $T_{\rm c}$. This region is considered to be very similar to the low density region (crust regime) of a neutron star (where a nearly unitary $s$-wave neutron superfluid is expected). (2) We then theoretically compensate the difference that, while the effective range $r_{\rm eff}$ is negligibly small in a superfluid $^6$Li Fermi gas, it cannot be ignored ($r_{\rm eff}=2.7$ fm) in a neutron star, by extending the NSR theory to include effects of $r_{\rm eff}$. The calculated EoS when $r_{\rm eff}=2.7$ fm is shown to agree well with the previous neutron-star EoS in the low density region predicted in nuclear physics. Our idea indicates that an ultracold atomic gas may more flexibly be used as a quantum simulator for the study of other complicated quantum many-body systems, when we use, not only the experimental high tunability, but also the recent theoretical development in this field. Since it is difficult to directly observe a neutron-star interior, our idea would provide a useful approach to the exploration for this mysterious astronomical object.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2017

Entropy production and isotropization in Yang-Mills theory with use of quantum distribution function

We investigate thermalization process in relativistic heavy ion collisions in terms of the Husimi-Wehrl (HW) entropy defined with the Husimi function, a quantum distribution function in a phase space. We calculate the semiclassical time evolution of the HW entropy in Yang-Mills field theory with the phenomenological initial field configuration known as the McLerran-Venugopalan model in a non-expanding geometry, which has instabilty triggered by initial field fluctuations. HW-entropy production implies the thermalization of the system and it reflects the underlying dynamics such as chaoticity and instability. By comparing the production rate with the Kolmogorov-Sinaï rate, we find that the HW entropy production rate is significantly larger than that expected from chaoticity. We also show that the HW entropy is finally saturated when the system reaches a quasi-stationary state. The saturation time of the HW entropy is comparable with that of pressure isotropization, which is around $1$ fm/c in the present calculation in the non-expanding geometry.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2017

Enhancement of elliptic flow can signal a first order phase transition in high energy heavy ion collisions

The beam energy dependence of the elliptic flow,$v_2$, is studied in mid-central Au+Au collisions in the energy range of $3\leq \sqrt{s_{NN}} \leq 30$ GeV within the microscopic transport model JAM. The results of three different modes of JAM are compared; cascade-,hadronic mean field-, and a new mode with modified equations of state, with a first order phase transition (1.O.P.T.) and with a crossover transition. The standard hadronic mean field suppresses $v_2$, while the inclusion of the effects of a 1.O.P.T. (and also of a crossover transition) does enhance $v_2$ at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}<30$ GeV. The enhancement or suppression of the scaled energy flow, dubbed "elliptic flow"is understood as being due to out of plane- flow, i.e. $v_2<0$, dubbed out of plane - "squeeze-out", which occurs predominantly in the early, compression stage. Subsequently, the in-plane flow dominates, in the expansion stage, $v_2 > 0$. The directed flow, dubbed "bounce- off", is an independent measure of the pressure, which quickly builds up the transverse momentum transfer in the reaction plane. When the spectator matter leaves the participant fireball region, where the highest compression occurs, a hard expansion leads to larger $v_2$. A combined analysis of the three transverse flow coefficients, radial $v_0$-, directed $v_1$- and elliptic $v_2$- flow, in the beam energy range of $3\leq\sqrt{s_{NN}}\leq10$ GeV, distinguishes the different compression and expansion scenarios: a characteristic dependence on the early stage equation of state is observed. The enhancement of both the elliptic and the transverse radial flow and the simultaneous collapse of the directed flow of nucleons offers a clear signature if 1.O.P.T. is realized at the highest baryon densities created in high energy heavy-ion collisions.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2017

Topological deconfinement transition in QCD at finite isospin density

The confinement-deconfinement transition is discussed from topological viewpoints. The topological change of the system is achieved by introducing the dimensionless imaginary chemical potential ($θ$). Then, the non-trivial free-energy degeneracy becomes the signal of the deconfinement transition and it can be visualized by using the map of the thermodynamic quantities to the circle $S^1$ along $θ$. To understand this "topological" deconfinement transition at finite real quark chemical potential ($μ_\mathrm{R}$), we consider the isospin chemical potential ($μ_\mathrm{iso}$) in the effective model of QCD. The phase diagram at finite $μ_\mathrm{iso}$ is identical with that at finite $μ_\mathrm{R}$ outside of the pion-condensed phase at least in the large-$N_\mathrm{c}$ limit via the well-known orbifold equivalence. In the present effective model, the topological deconfinement transition does not show a significant dependence on $μ_\mathrm{iso}$ and then we can expect that this tendency also appears at small $μ_\mathrm{R}$. Also, the chiral transition and the topological deconfinement transition seems to be weakly correlated. If we will access lattice QCD data for the temperature dependence of the quark number density at finite $μ_\mathrm{iso}$ with $θ=π/3$, our surmise can be judged.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2017

Polyakov loop effects on the phase diagram in strong-coupling lattice QCD

We investigate the Polyakov loop effects on the QCD phase diagram by using the strong-coupling (1/g^2) expansion of the lattice QCD (SC-LQCD) with one species of unrooted staggered quark, including O}(1/g^4) effects. We take account of the effects of Polyakov loop fluctuations in Weiss mean-field approximation (MFA), and compare the results with those in the Haar-measure MFA (no fluctuation from the mean-field). The Polyakov loops strongly suppress the chiral transition temperature in the second-order/crossover region at small chemical potential, while they give a minor modification of the first-order phase boundary at larger chemical potential. The Polyakov loops also account for a drastic increase of the interaction measure near the chiral phase transition. The chiral and Polyakov loop susceptibilities have their peaks close to each other in the second-order/crossover region. In particular in Weiss MFA, there is no indication of the separated deconfinement transition boundary from the chiral phase boundary at any chemical potential. We discuss the interplay between the chiral and deconfinement dynamics via the bare quark mass dependence of susceptibilities.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2017

Lefschetz thimbles in fermionic effective models with repulsive vector-field

We discuss two problems in complexified auxiliary fields in fermionic effective models, the auxiliary sign problem associated with the repulsive vector-field and the choice of the cut for the scalar field appearing from the logarithmic function. In the fermionic effective models with attractive scalar and repulsive vector-type interaction, the auxiliary scalar and vector fields appear in the path integral after the bosonization of fermion ilinears. When we make the path integral well-defined by the Wick rotation of the vector field, the oscillating Boltzmann weight appears in the partition function. This "auxiliary" sign problem can be solved by using the Lefschetz-thimble path-integral method, where the integration path is constructed in the complex plane. Another serious obstacle in the numerical construction of Lefschetz thimbles is caused by singular points and cuts induced by multivalued functions of the complexified scalar field in the momentum integration. We propose a new prescription which fixes gradient flow trajectories on the same Riemann sheet in the flow evolution by performing the momentum integration in the complex domain.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2017

$pΞ^- $ Correlation in Relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions with Nucleon-Hyperon Interaction from Lattice QCD

On the basis of the $pΞ^-$ interaction extracted from (2+1)-flavor lattice QCD simulations at the physical point, the momentum correlation of $p$ and $Ξ^-$ produced in relativistic heavy ion collisions is evaluated. $C_{\rm SL}(Q)$ defined by a ratio of the momentum correlations between the systems with different source sizes is shown to be largely enhanced at low momentum due to the strong attraction between $p$ and $Ξ^-$ in the $I=J=0$ channel. Thus, measuring this ratio at RHIC and LHC and its comparison to the theoretical analysis will give a useful constraint on the $pΞ^-$ interaction.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2017

Exotic Hadrons from Heavy Ion Collisions

Heavy ion collisions (HIC) at high energies are excellent ways for producing heavy hadrons and composite particles. With upgraded detectors at RHIC and LHC, it has become possible to measure hadrons beyond their ground states. Therefore, HIC provide a new method for studying exotic hadrons that are either hadronic molecular states or compact multiquark systems. Because their structures are related to the fundamental properties of QCD, studying exotic hadrons is currently one of the most active areas of research in hadron physics. Experiments carried out at various accelerator facilities have indicated that some exotic hadrons may have already been produced. The present review is a summary of the current understanding of a selected set of exotic particle candidates that can be potentially measured in HIC. It also includes discussions on the production of exotic hadrons in HIC based on the coalescence and statistical models. A more detailed discussion leads to the conclusion that the yield of a hadron is typically an order of magnitude smaller when it is a compact multiquark state than that of an excited hadronic state with normal quark numbers and/or a molecular configuration. Attention is also given to some of the proposed heavy exotic hadrons that could be produced with sufficient abundance in HIC because of the significant numbers of charm and bottom quarks produced at RHIC and LHC, making it possible to study them in these experiments. Further included in the discussion are the general formalism for the coalescence model that involves resonance particles and its implication on the present estimated yield for resonance production. Finally, a review is given on recent studies to constrain the hadron-hadron interaction through correlation measurements in HIC and their implications on the interpretation and the possible existence of exotic states in hadronic interactions.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2016

Three Baryon Interaction Generated by Determinant Interaction of Quarks

We discuss the three-baryon interaction generated by the determinant interaction of quarks, known as the Kobayashi-Maskawa-'t Hooft (KMT) interaction. The expectation value of the KMT interaction operator is calculated in fully-antisymmetrized quark-cluster model wave functions for one-, two- and three-octet baryon states. The three-baryon potential from the KMT interaction is found to be repulsive for $NNΛ$ and $NΛΛ$ systems, while it is zero for the $NNN$ system. The strength and range of the three-baryon potential are found to be comparable to those for the $NNN$ three-body potential obtained in lattice QCD simulations. The contribution to the $Λ$ single particle potential in nuclear matter is found to be 0.28 MeV and 0.73 MeV in neutron matter and symmetric nuclear matter at normal nuclear density, respectively. These repulsive forces are not enough to solve the hyperon puzzle, but may be measured in high-precision hyperisotope experiments.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2016

Examination of directed flow as a signature of the softest point of the equation of state in QCD matter

We analyze the directed flow of protons and pions in high-energy heavy-ion collisions in the incident energy range from $\sqrt{s_{\scriptscriptstyle NN}}=7.7$ to 27 GeV within a microscopic transport model. Standard hadronic transport approaches do not describe the collapse of directed flow below $\sqrt{s_{\scriptscriptstyle NN}}\simeq 20$ GeV. By contrast, a model which simulates effects of a softening of the equation of state, well describes the behavior of directed flow data recently obtained by the STAR Collaboration~\cite{STARv1}. We give a detailed analysis of how directed flow is generated. Particularly, we found that softening of effective equation of state at the overlapping region of two nuclei, i.e. the reaction stages where the system reaches high baryon density state, is needed to explain the observed collapse of proton directed flow within a hadronic transport approach.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2016

Probing Multi-Strange Dibaryon with Proton-Omega Correlation in High-energy Heavy Ion Collisions

Two-particle intensity correlation between the proton ($p$) and the Omega-baryon ($Ω$) in high-energy heavy ion collisions is studied to unravel the possible spin-2 $pΩ$ dibaryon recently suggested by lattice QCD simulations. The ratio of correlation functions between small and large collision systems, $C_{\rm SL}(Q)$, is proposed to be a new measure to extract the strong $pΩ$ interaction without much contamination from the Coulomb attraction. Relevance of this quantity to the experimental observables in heavy-ion collisions is also discussed.

hep-ph↗