arXiv subjects

Christiana Athanasiou

Publications and source records attributed to Christiana Athanasiou.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2011

Synchrotron radiation in strongly coupled conformal field theories

Using gauge/gravity duality, we compute the energy density and angular distribution of the power radiated by a quark undergoing circular motion in strongly coupled ${\cal N}=4$ supersymmetric Yang-Mills (SYM) theory. We compare the strong coupling results to those at weak coupling, and find the same angular distribution of radiated power, up to an overall prefactor. In both regimes, the angular distribution is in fact similar to that of synchrotron radiation produced by an electron in circular motion in classical electrodynamics: the quark emits radiation in a narrow beam along its velocity vector with a characteristic opening angle $α\sim 1/γ$. To an observer far away from the quark, the emitted radiation appears as a short periodic burst, just like the light from a lighthouse does to a ship at sea. Our strong coupling results are valid for any strongly coupled conformal field theory with a dual classical gravity description.

hep-th↗

arXiv2010

Using Higher Moments of Fluctuations and their Ratios in the Search for the QCD Critical Point

The QCD critical point can be found in heavy ion collision experiments via the non-monotonic behavior of many fluctuation observables as a function of the collision energy. The event-by-event fluctuations of various particle multiplicities are enhanced in those collisions that freeze out near the critical point. Higher, non-Gaussian, moments of the event-by-event distributions of such observables are particularly sensitive to critical fluctuations, since their magnitude depends on the critical correlation length to a high power. We present quantitative estimates of the contribution of critical fluctuations to the third and fourth moments of the pion, proton and net proton multiplicities, as well as estimates of various measures of pion-proton correlations, all as a function of the same five non-universal parameters, one of which is the correlation length that parametrizes proximity to the critical point. We show how to use nontrivial but parameter independent ratios among these more than a dozen fluctuation observables to discover the critical point. We also construct ratios that, if the critical point is found, can be used to overconstrain the values of the non-universal parameters.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2010

Radiation of a circulating quark in strongly coupled N=4 super Yang-Mills theory

The energy density and angular distribution of power radiated by a quark undergoing circular motion in strongly coupled ${\cal N}=4$ supersymmetric Yang-Mills (SYM) theory is computed using gauge/gravity duality. The results are qualitatively similar to that of synchrotron radiation produced by an electron in circular motion in classical electrodynamics: At large velocities the quark emits radiation in a narrow beam along its velocity vector with a characteristic opening angle $α\sim 1/γ$ and radial thickness scaling like $\sim 1/γ^3$.

hep-th↗

arXiv2010

Ratios of Fluctuation Observables in the Search for the QCD Critical Point

The QCD critical point can be found in heavy ion collision experiments via the non-monotonic behavior of many fluctuation observables as a function of the collision energy. The event-by-event fluctuations of various particle multiplicities are enhanced in those collisions that freeze out near the critical point. Higher, non-Gaussian, moments of the event-by-event distributions of such observables are particularly sensitive to critical fluctuations, since their magnitude depends on the critical correlation length to a high power. We present quantitative estimates of the contribution of critical fluctuations to the third and fourth moments of the pion and proton, as well as estimates of various measures of pion-proton correlations, all as a function of the same five non-universal parameters. We show how to use nontrivial but parameter independent ratios among these more than a dozen fluctuation observables to discover the critical point. We also construct ratios that, if the critical point is found, can be used to overconstrain the values of the non-universal parameters.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2008

Distinguishing Spins in Decay Chains at the Large Hadron Collider

If new particles are discovered at the LHC, it will be important to determine their spins in as model-independent a way as possible. We consider the case, commonly encountered in models of physics beyond the Standard Model, of a new scalar or fermion $D$ decaying sequentially into other new particles $C,B,A$ via the decay chain $D\to C q$, $C\to B l^{near}$, $B\to A l^{far}$, $l^{near}$ and $l^{far}$ being opposite-sign same-flavour charged leptons and $A$ being invisible. We compute the observable 2- and 3-particle invariant mass distributions for all possible spin assignments of the new particles, and discuss their distinguishability using a quantitative measure known as the Kullback-Leibler distance.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2008

Velocity Dependence of Baryon Screening in a Hot Strongly Coupled Plasma

The L-dependence of the static potential between Nc quarks arranged in a circle of radius L (a "baryon") immersed in the hot plasma of a gauge theory with Nc colors defines a screening length Ls. We use the AdS/CFT correspondence to compute this screening length for the case of heavy quarks in the plasma of strongly coupled N=4 super Yang-Mills theory moving with velocity v relative to the baryon. We find that in the v -> 1 limit, Ls \propto (1-v^2)^{1/4}/T, and find that corrections to this velocity dependence are small at lower velocities. This result provides evidence for the robustness of the analogous behavior of the screening length defined by the static quark-antiquark pair, which has been computed previously and in QCD is relevant to quarkonium physics in heavy ion collisions. Our results also show that as long as the hot wind is not blowing precisely perpendicular to the plane of the baryon configuration that we analyze, the Nc different quarks are not all affected by the wind velocity to the same degree, with those quarks lying perpendicular to the wind direction screened most effectively.

hep-th↗

arXiv2006

Addendum to "Distinguishing Spins in Decay Chains at the Large Hadron Collider"

We extend our earlier study of spin correlations in the decay chain $D\to C q$, $C\to B l^{near}$, $B\to A l^{far}$, where $A,B,C,D$ are new particles with known masses but undetermined spins, $l^{near}$ and $l^{far}$ are opposite-sign same-flavour charged leptons and $A$ is invisible. Instead of looking at the observable 2- and 3-particle invariant mass distributions separately, we compare the full three-dimensional phase space distributions for all possible spin assignments of the new particles, and show that this enhances their distinguishability using a quantitative measure known as the Kullback-Leibler distance.

hep-ph↗