arXiv subjects

Jana N. Guenther

Publications and source records attributed to Jana N. Guenther.

35 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

Pseudoscalar transition form factors and the hadronic light-by-light contribution to the muon $g-2$

We report on our progress toward the computation of the $π^0$, $η$ and $η^{\prime}$ transition form factors using staggered quarks on $N_f=2+1+1$ gauge ensembles generated by the Budapest-Marseille-Wuppertal collaboration. These form factors are essential ingredients to evaluate the pseudoscalar-pole contributions to the hadronic light-by-light scattering in the muon $g-2$. Preliminary results for the pseudoscalar-pole contributions are presented, at finite lattice spacing, for all three light mesons.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2022

Equation of state of a hot-and-dense quark gluon plasma: lattice simulations at real $μ_B$ vs. extrapolations

The equation of state of the quark gluon plasma is a key ingredient of heavy ion phenomenology. In addition to the traditional Taylor method, several novel approximation schemes have been proposed with the aim of calculating it at finite baryon density. In order to gain a pragmatic understanding of the limits of these schemes, we compare them to direct results at $μ_B>0$, using reweighting techniques free from an overlap problem. We use 2stout improved staggered fermions with 8 time-slices and cover the entire RHIC BES range in the baryochemical potential, up to $μ_B/T=3$.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2022

Semiclassical gravitational collapse of a radially symmetric massless scalar quantum field

We present a method to study the semiclassical gravitational collapse of a radially symmetric scalar quantum field in a coherent initial state. The formalism utilizes a Fock space basis in the initial metric, is unitary and time reversal invariant up to numerical precision. It maintains exact compatibility of the metric with the expectation values of the energy momentum tensor in the scalar field coherent state throughout the entire time evolution. We find a simple criterion for the smallness of discretization effects, which is violated when a horizon forms. As a first example, we study the collapse of a specific state in the angular momentum $l=0$ approximation. Outside the simulated volume it produces a Schwarzschild metric with $r_s \sim 3.5 \ell_p$. We see behaviour that is compatible with the onset of horizon formation both in the semiclassical and corresponding classical cases in a regime where we see no evidence for large discretization artefacts. In our example setting, we see that quantum effects accelerate the possible horizon formation and move it radially outward. We find that this effect is robust against variations of the radial resolution, the time step, the volume, the initial position and shape of the inmoving state, the vacuum subtraction, the discretization of the time evolution operator and the integration scheme of the metric. We briefly discuss potential improvements of the method and the possibility of applying it to black hole evaporation. We also briefly touch on the extension of our formalism to higher angular momenta, but leave the details and numerics for a forthcoming publication.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2022

Resummed lattice QCD equation of state at finite baryon density: strangeness neutrality and beyond

We calculate a resummed equation of state with lattice QCD simulations at imaginary chemical potentials. This work presents a generalization of the scheme introduced in 2102.06660 to the case of non-zero $μ_S$, focusing on the line of strangeness neutrality. We present results up to $μ_B/T \leq 3.5$ on the strangeness neutral line $\left\langle S \right\rangle = 0$ in the temperature range $130 \rm{MeV} \leq T \leq 280 \rm{MeV}$. We also extrapolate the finite baryon density equation of state to small non-zero values of the strangeness-to-baryon ratio $R=\left\langle S \right\rangle / \left\langle B \right\rangle$. We perform a continuum extrapolation using lattice simulations of the 4stout-improved staggered action with 8, 10, 12 and 16 timeslices.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2022

An overview of the QCD phase diagram at finite $T$ and $μ$

In recent years there has been much progress on the investigation of the QCD phase diagram with lattice QCD. This talk will focus on the developments in the last few years. Especially the addition of external influences and extended ranges of $T$ and $μ$ yield an increasing number of interesting results, a subset of which will be discussed. Many of these conditions are important for the understanding of both the QCD transition in the early universe and heavy ion collision experiments which are conducted for example at the LHC and RHIC. This offers many exciting opportunities for comparisons between theory and experiment.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2021

Pseudoscalar transition form factors and the hadronic light-by-light contribution to the muon $g-2$

We present preliminary results from our calculation of the pseudoscalar transition form factors of the $η$ and $η'$ mesons using staggered quarks on $N_f=2+1+1$ gauge ensembles generated by the Budapest-Marseille-Wuppertal collaboration. These transition form factors are an important input for the hadronic light-by-light contribution to the muon $(g-2)$. We first elaborate on the extraction of the masses of the $η$ and $η'$ mesons, that mix under the dynamics of QCD. Thereafter, we show our preliminary results for the pseudoscalar transition form factors, focusing on the $η$ meson in the absence of mixing.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2021

The upper right corner of the Columbia plot with staggered fermions

QCD with heavy dynamical quarks exhibits a first order thermal transition which is driven by the spontaneous breaking of the global $\mathcal{Z}_3$ center symmetry. Decreasing the quark masses weakens the transition until the corresponding latent heat vanishes at the critical mass. We explore the heavy mass region with three flavors of staggered quarks and analyze the Polyakov loop and its moments in a finite volume scaling study. We calculate the heavy critical mass in the three flavor theory in the infinite volume limit for $N_t=8$.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2021

Quantifying corrections to the hadron resonance gas with lattice QCD

The hadron resonance gas (HRG) model and its extensions are often used to describe the hadronic phase of strongly interacting matter. In our work we use lattice-QCD simulations with temporal extents of $N_τ=8,10$ and $12$ to quantify corrections to the ideal HRG. Firstly, we determine a number of subleading fugacity expansion coefficients of the QCD free energy via a two-dimensional scan on the imaginary baryon number chemical potential ($μ_B$) - strangeness chemical potential ($μ_S$) plane. Using the aforementioned coefficients, we also extrapolate ratios of baryon number and strangeness fluctuations and correlations to finite chemical potentials via a truncated fugacity expansion. Our results extrapolated along the crossover line $T_\mathrm{c}(μ_B)$ at strangeness neutrality are able to reproduce trends of experimental net-proton fluctuations measured by the STAR Collaboration.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2021

Real time dynamics of a semiclassical gravitational collapse of a scalar quantum field

We present a new formalism for numerically treating the semiclassical gravitational collapse of a scalar quantum field in the radially symmetric case. Our formalism is time reversal invariant and the evolution of the scalar fields is unitary. We present some first results in the angular momentum $l=0$ approximation for an initially coherent state of a massless field and briefly discuss future prospects.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2021

Equation of state of QCD at finite chemical potential from an alternative expansion scheme

The equation of state of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) at finite density is currently known only in a limited range in the baryon chemical potential $μ_B$. This is due to fundamental shortcomings of traditional methods such as Taylor expansion around $μ_B=0$. In this contribution, we present an alternative scheme that displays substantially improved convergence over the Taylor expansion method. We calculate the alternative expansion coefficients in the continuum, and show our results for the thermodynamic observables up to $μ_B/T\le3.5$.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2021

Overview of the QCD phase diagram -- Recent progress from the lattice

In recent years there has been much progress on the investigation of the QCD phase diagram with lattice QCD simulations. In this review I focus on the developments in the last two years. Especially the addition of external influences or new parameter ranges yield an increasing number of interesting results. I discuss the progress for small, finite densities from both analytical continuation and Complex Langevin simulations, for heavy quark bound states (quarkonium), the dependence on the quark masses (Columbia plot) and the influence of a magnetic field. Many of these conditions are relevant for the understanding of both the QCD transition in the early universe and heavy ion collision experiments which are conducted for example at the LHC and RHIC.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2021

Corrections to the hadron resonance gas from lattice QCD and their effect on fluctuation-ratios at finite density

The hadron resonance gas (HRG) model is often believed to correctly describe the confined phase of QCD. This assumption is the basis of many phenomenological works on QCD thermodynamics and of the analysis of hadron yields in relativistic heavy ion collisions. We use first-principle lattice simulations to calculate corrections to the ideal HRG. Namely, we determine the sub-leading fugacity expansion coefficients of the grand canonical free energy, receiving contributions from processes like kaon-kaon or baryon-baryon scattering. We achieve this goal by performing a two dimensional scan on the imaginary baryon number chemical potential ($μ_B$) - strangeness chemical potential ($μ_S$) plane, where the fugacity expansion coefficients become Fourier coefficients. We carry out a continuum limit estimation of these coefficients by performing lattice simulations with temporal extents of $N_τ=8,10,12$ using the 4stout-improved staggered action. We then use the truncated fugacity expansion to extrapolate ratios of baryon number and strangeness fluctuations and correlations to finite chemical potentials. Evaluating the fugacity expansion along the crossover line, we reproduce the trend seen in the experimental data on net-proton fluctuations by the STAR collaboration.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2020

Off-diagonal correlators of conserved charges from lattice QCD and how to relate them to experiment

Like fluctuations, non-diagonal correlators of conserved charges provide a tool for the study of chemical freeze-out in heavy ion collisions. They can be calculated in thermal equilibrium using lattice simulations, and be connected to moments of event-by-event net-particle multiplicity distributions. We calculate them from continuum extrapolated lattice simulations at $μ_B=0$, and present a finite-$μ_B$ extrapolation, comparing two different methods. In order to relate the grand canonical observables to the experimentally available net-particle fluctuations and correlations, we perform a Hadron Resonance Gas (HRG) model analysis, which allows us to completely break down the contributions from different hadrons. We then construct suitable hadronic proxies for fluctuations ratios, and study their behavior at finite chemical potentials. We also study the effect of introducing acceptance cuts, and argue that the small dependence of certain ratios on the latter allows for a direct comparison with lattice QCD results, provided that the same cuts are applied to all hadronic species. Finally, we perform a comparison for the constructed quantities for experimentally available measurements from the STAR Collaboration. Thus, we estimate the chemical freeze-out temperature to 165 MeV using a strangeness-related proxy. This is a rather high temperature for the use of the Hadron Resonance Gas, thus, further lattice studies are necessary to provide first principle results at intermediate $μ_B$.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2020

The QCD crossover at finite chemical potential from lattice simulations

We provide the most accurate results for the QCD transition line so far. We optimize the definition of the crossover temperature $T_c$, allowing for its very precise determination, and extrapolate from imaginary chemical potential up to real $μ_B \approx 300$ MeV. The definition of $T_c$ adopted in this work is based on the observation that the chiral susceptibility as a function of the condensate is an almost universal curve at zero and imaganiary $μ_B$. We obtain the parameters $κ_2=0.0153(18)$ and $κ_4=0.00032(67)$ as a continuum extrapolation based on $N_t=10,12$ and $16$ lattices with physical quark masses. We also extrapolate the peak value of the chiral susceptibility and the width of the chiral transition along the crossover line. In fact, both of these are consistent with a constant function of $μ_B$. We see no sign of criticality in the explored range.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2019

Cross-correlators of conserved charges in QCD

We present cross-correlators of QCD conserved charges at $μ_B=0$ from lattice simulations and perform a Hadron Resonance Gas (HRG) model analysis to break down the hadronic contributions to these correlators. We construct a suitable hadronic proxy for the ratio $-χ_{11}^{BS}/χ_2^S$ and discuss the dependence on the chemical potential and experimental cuts. We then perform a comparison to preliminary STAR results and comment on a possible direct comparison of lattice and experiment.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2018

Searching for a CEP signal with lattice QCD simulations

We discuss the reliability of available methods to constrain the location of the QCD critical endpoint with lattice simulations. In particular we calculate the baryon fluctuations up to $χ^B_8$ using simulations at imaginary chemical potentials. We argue that they contain no hint of criticality.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2018

Higher order fluctuations and correlations of conserved charges from lattice QCD

We calculate several diagonal and non-diagonal fluctuations of conserved charges in a system of 2+1+1 quark flavors with physical masses, on a lattice with size $48^3\times12$. Higher order fluctuations at $μ_B=0$ are obtained as derivatives of the lower order ones, simulated at imaginary chemical potential. From these correlations and fluctuations we construct ratios of net-baryon number cumulants as functions of temperature and chemical potential, which satisfy the experimental conditions of strangeness neutrality and proton/baryon ratio. Our results qualitatively explain the behavior of the measured cumulant ratios by the STAR collaboration.

hep-lat↗