arXiv subjects

Kenji Fukushima

Publications and source records attributed to Kenji Fukushima.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2024

Strongly interacting matter in extreme magnetic fields

Magnetic fields are ubiquitous across different physical systems of current interest; from the early Universe, compact astrophysical objects and heavy-ion collisions to condensed matter systems. A proper treatment of the effects produced by magnetic fields during the dynamical evolution of these systems, can help to understand observables that otherwise show a puzzling behavior. Furthermore, when these fields are comparable to or stronger than Λ_QCD, they serve as excellent probes to help elucidate the physics of strongly interacting matter under extreme conditions of temperature and density. In this work we provide a comprehensive review of recent developments on the description of QED and QCD systems where magnetic field driven effects are important. These include the modification of meson static properties such as masses and form factors, the chiral magnetic effect, the description of anomalous transport coefficients, superconductivity in extreme magnetic fields, the properties of neutron stars, the evolution of heavy-ion collisions, as well as effects on the QCD phase diagram. We describe recent theory and phenomenological developments using effective models as well as LQCD methods. The work represents a state-of-the-art review of the field, motivated by presentations and discussions during the "Workshop on Strongly Interacting Matter in Strong Electromagnetic Fields" that took place in the European Centre for Theoretical Studies in Nuclear Physics and Related Areas (ECT*) in the city of Trento, Italy, September 25-29, 2023.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2024

Stochastic quantization and diffusion models

This is a pedagogical review of the possible connection between the stochastic quantization in physics and the diffusion models in machine learning. For machine-learning applications, the denoising diffusion model has been established as a successful technique, which is formulated in terms of the stochastic differential equation (SDE). In this review, we focus on an SDE approach used in the score-based generative modeling. Interestingly, the evolution of the probability distribution is equivalently described by a particular class of SDEs, and in a particular limit, the stochastic noises can be eliminated. Then, we turn to a similar mathematical formulation in quantum physics, that is, the stochastic quantization. We make a brief overview on the stochastic quantization using a simple toy model of the one-dimensional integration. The analogy between the diffusion model and the stochastic quantization is clearly seen in this concrete example. Finally, we discuss how the sign problem arises in the toy model with complex parameters. The origin of the difficulty is understood based on the Lefschetz thimble analysis. We point out that the SDE is not invariant under the variable change which induces a kernel and a special choice of the kernel guided by the Lefschetz thimble analysis can reduce the sign problem.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2024

Inhomogeneous confinement and chiral symmetry breaking induced by imaginary angular velocity

We investigate detailed properties of imaginary rotating matter with gluons and quarks at high temperature. Previously, we showed that imaginary rotation induces perturbative confinement of gluons at the rotation center. We perturbatively calculate the Polyakov loop potential and find inhomogeneous confinement above a certain threshold of imaginary angular velocity. We also evaluate the quark contribution to the Polyakov loop potential and confirm that spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking occurs in the perturbatively confined phase.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Understanding Diffusion Models by Feynman's Path Integral

Score-based diffusion models have proven effective in image generation and have gained widespread usage; however, the underlying factors contributing to the performance disparity between stochastic and deterministic (i.e., the probability flow ODEs) sampling schemes remain unclear. We introduce a novel formulation of diffusion models using Feynman's path integral, which is a formulation originally developed for quantum physics. We find this formulation providing comprehensive descriptions of score-based generative models, and demonstrate the derivation of backward stochastic differential equations and loss functions.The formulation accommodates an interpolating parameter connecting stochastic and deterministic sampling schemes, and we identify this parameter as a counterpart of Planck's constant in quantum physics. This analogy enables us to apply the Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin (WKB) expansion, a well-established technique in quantum physics, for evaluating the negative log-likelihood to assess the performance disparity between stochastic and deterministic sampling schemes.

cs.LG↗

arXiv2024

HBT signature for clustered substructures probing primordial inhomogeneity in hot and dense QCD matter

We propose a novel approach to probe primordial inhomogeneity in hot and dense matter which could be realized in non-central heavy-ion collisions. Although the Hanbury Brown and Twiss (HBT) interferometry is commonly used to infer the system size, the cluster size should be detected if substructures emerge in space. We demonstrate that a signal peak in the HBT two-particle correlation stands at the relative momentum corresponding to the spatial scale of pseudo one-dimensional modulation. We assess detectability using the data prepared by an event generator (AMPT model) with clustering implemented in the particle distribution.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Uncertainty quantification in the machine-learning inference from neutron star probability distribution to the equation of state

We discuss the machine-learning inference and uncertainty quantification for the equation of state (EoS) of the neutron star (NS) matter directly using the NS probability distribution from the observations. We previously proposed a prescription for uncertainty quantification based on ensemble learning by evaluating output variance from independently trained models. We adopt a different principle for uncertainty quantification to confirm the reliability of our previous results. To this end, we carry out the MC sampling of data to infer an EoS and take the convolution with the probability distribution of the observational data. In this newly proposed method, we can deal with arbitrary probability distribution not relying on the Gaussian approximation. We incorporate observational data from the recent multimessenger sources including precise mass measurements and radius measurements. We also quantify the importance of data augmentation and the effects of prior dependence.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2024

Pulsar Kick by the Chiral Anisotropy Conversion

We discuss a novel mechanism for the proto-neutron star acceleration assisted by the chiral separation effect which induces an axial vector current in a dense medium. We consider the process of neutrinos scattering off the background axial vector current of electrons. We show that anisotropy of either magnetic field or density in momentum space is essential for nonzero recoil and we call this mechanism the chiral anisotropy conversion. Assuming a strong magnetic field $B \simeq 10^{12}$ T and anisotropy by $\sim 10\%$, we find that the chiral anisotropy conversion can yield the velocity of order of typical pulsar kicks, i.e., $v_{\mathrm{kick}} \gtrsim 1000$ km/s.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

Implications of the helicity conservation for on-shell and off-shell chirality production

We analyze the helicity conservation following from the axial Ward identity for the massless fermion. We discuss the pair production of a fermion, $\ell$, and an anti-fermion, $\bar{\ell}$, from the annihilation process of photons, $γ$'s and conclude that the chirality production is prohibited in any annihilation process of on-shell $γ$'s. We demonstrate this selection rule in the tree-level process of $γ+γ\to \ell+\bar{\ell}$. We next consider the off-shell effect on the chirality production in the presence of the background magnetic field. We point out that the particle conversion process under the magnetic field induces the polarization of an incident $γ$, which can also be interpreted intuitively from the helicity conservation.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

Chiral anomaly in a (1+1)-dimensional Floquet system under high-frequency electric fields

We investigate the chiral anomaly in a Floquet system under a time-periodic electric field in (1+1) dimensions. Using the van~Vleck high-frequency expansion, we analytically calculate the chiral current and the pseudo-scalar condensate for massless/massive fermions and how they are balanced with the topological charge. In the high-frequency limit, we find that finite-mass effects are suppressed and the topological charge is dominated by the chirality production. Our calculations show that the information about the chiral anomaly is stored not in the static Floquet Hamiltonian but in the periodic kick operator. The computational steps are useful as the theoretical foundation for higher-dimensional generalization.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

The nuclear liquid-gas transition in QCD

We estimate the nuclear saturation density and the binding energy in a nuclear liquid from precision data on the coupling of the four-quark scattering vertex in the vector channel, computed within functional QCD. We show that this coupling is directly related to the density-density potential and the latter is used for the estimates. In a first qualitative computation we find a saturation density of 0.2 fm${}^{-3}$ and an upper bound for the binding energy of 21.5 MeV, in agreement with the empirical values of 0.16 fm${}^{-3}$ and 16 MeV, respectively. We also use the scattering vertex for constructing an emergent low-energy effective theory for the liquid gas transition from QCD correlation function, whose coupling parameters can be determined within QCD. As a first consistency check of this construction we estimate the in-medium reduction of the nucleon pole mass.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2023

Second-order and Fluctuation-induced First-order Phase Transitions with Functional Renormalization Group Equations

We investigate phase transitions in scalar field theories using the functional renormalization group (RG) equation. We analyze a system with $U(2)\times U(2)$ symmetry, in which there is a parameter $λ_2$ that controls the strength of the first-order phase transition driven by fluctuations. In the limit of $λ_2\to0$, the $U(2)\times U(2)$ theory is reduced to an $O(8)$ scalar theory that exhibits a second-order phase transition in three dimensions. We develop a new insight for the understanding of the fluctuation-induced first-order phase transition as a smooth continuation from the standard RG flow in the $O(8)$ system. In our view from the RG flow diagram on coupling parameter space, the region that favors the first-order transition emerges from the unphysical region to the physical one as $λ_2$ increases from zero. We give this interpretation based on the Taylor expansion of the functional RG equations up to the fourth order in terms of the field, which encompasses the $ε$-expansion results. We compare results from the expansion and from the full numerical calculation and find that the fourth-order expansion is only of qualitative use and that the sixth-order expansion improves the quantitative agreement.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

Magnetic enhancement of baryon confinement modeled via a deformed Skyrmion

We discuss the baryon properties under a strong magnetic field. We adopt the Skyrme model and calculate the magnetic field dependence of the mass and the pressure distribution in the soliton. We elucidate a magnetically induced contribution to the pressure sum rule and interpret it as an extra confining force. We also quantize the soliton to estimate the difference between the proton and the neutron and find a simple relation between the pressure and the mass differences.

hep-th↗

arXiv2022

50 Years of Quantum Chromodynamics

This paper presents a comprehensive review of both the theory and experimental successes of Quantum Chromodynamics, starting with its emergence as a well defined theory in 1972-73 and following developments and results up to the present day. Topics include a review of the earliest theoretical and experimental foundations; the fundamental constants of QCD; an introductory discussion of lattice QCD, the only known method for obtaining exact predictions from QCD; methods for approximating QCD, with special focus on effective field theories; QCD under extreme conditions; measurements and predictions of meson and baryon states; a special discussion of the structure of the nucleon; techniques for study of QCD at high energy, including treatment of jets and showers; measurements at colliders; weak decays and quark mixing; and a section on the future, which discusses new experimental facilities or upgrades currently funded. The paper is intended to provide a broad background for Ph.D. students and postdocs starting their career. Some contributions include personal accounts of how the ideas or experiments were developed.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Perturbative confinement in thermal Yang-Mills theories induced by imaginary angular velocity

We perturbatively compute the Polyakov loop potential at high temperature with finite imaginary angular velocity. This imaginary rotation does not violate the causality and the thermodynamic limit is well defined. We analytically show that the imaginary angular velocity induces the perturbatively confined phase and serves as a new probe to confinement physics. We discuss a possible phase diagram that exhibits adiabatic continuity from the perturbative confinement to the confined phase at low temperature. We also mention subtlety in the analytical continuation from imaginary to real angular velocity by imposing a causality bound.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Equation of state of neutron star matter and its warm extension with an interacting hadron resonance gas

We propose an interpolating equation of state that satisfies phenomenologically established boundary conditions in two extreme regimes at high temperature and low baryon density and at low temperature and high baryon density. We confirm that the hadron resonance gas model with the Carnahan-Starling excluded volume effect can reasonably fit the empirical equation of state at high density up to several times the normal nuclear density. We identify the onsets of strange particles and quantify the strangeness contents in dense matter. We finally discuss the finite temperature effects and estimate the thermal index $Γ_{\rm th}$ as a function of the baryon density, which should be a crucial input for the core-collapse supernova and the binary neutron star merger simulations.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2022

Trace anomaly as signature of conformality in neutron stars

We discuss an interpretation that a peak in the sound velocity in neutron star matter, as suggested by the observational data, signifies strongly-coupled conformal matter. The normalized trace anomaly is a dimensionless measure of conformality leading to the derivative and the non-derivative contributions to the sound velocity. We find that the peak in the sound velocity is attributed to the derivative contribution from the trace anomaly that steeply approaches the conformal limit. Smooth continuity to the behavior of high-density QCD implies that the matter part of the trace anomaly may be positive definite. We discuss a possible implication of the positivity condition of the trace anomaly on the $M$-$R$ relation of the neutron stars.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2022

Gravitational Wave Signal for Quark Matter with Realistic Phase Transition

The cores of neutron stars (NSs) near the maximum mass realize the most highly compressed matter in the universe where quark degrees of freedom may be liberated. Such a state of dense matter is hypothesized as quark matter (QM) and its presence has awaited to be confirmed for decades in nuclear physics. Gravitational waves from binary NS mergers are expected to convey useful information called the equation of state (EOS). However, the signature for QM with realistic EOS is not yet established. Here, we show that the gravitational wave in the post-merger stage can distinguish the theory scenarios with and without a transition to QM. Instead of adopting specific EOSs as studied previously, we compile reliable EOS constraints from the ab initio approaches. We demonstrate that early collapse to a black hole after NS merger signifies softening of the EOS associated with the onset of QM in accord with ab initio constraints. Nature of hadron-quark phase transition can be further constrained by the condition that electromagnetic counterparts need to be energized by the material left outside the remnant black hole.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2022

Equation of state of cold and dense QCD matter in resummed perturbation theory

We discuss the Hard Dense Loop resummation at finite quark mass and evaluate the equation of state (EoS) of cold and dense QCD matter in $β$ equilibrium. The resummation in the quark sector has an effect of lowering the baryon number density and the EoS turns out to have much smaller uncertainty than the perturbative QCD estimate. Our numerical results favor smooth matching between the EoS from the resummed QCD calculation at high density and the extrapolated EoS from the nuclear matter density region. We also point out that the speed of sound in our EoS slightly exceeds the conformal limit.

hep-ph↗