arXiv subjects

Osvaldo Ferreira

Publications and source records attributed to Osvaldo Ferreira.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Static linear response of hot and dense QCD matter to electromagnetic fields: Leading hard and soft QCD corrections

We compute the static electromagnetic susceptibilities of a hot and dense quark-gluon plasma using perturbative Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). Our evaluation includes the leading $\mathcal{O}(α_s)$ correction as well as the leading soft, resummed contribution of $\mathcal{O}(α_s^{3/2})$ within electrostatic QCD. By matching to Lattice QCD at vanishing baryon chemical potential through Lattice perturbation theory, we establish a connection between perturbative results and Lattice simulations and assess the size of higher-order corrections. This extends the electromagnetic susceptibilities to finite baryon chemical potential, where Lattice methods are not applicable and establishes first-principle constraints on the quark-gluon plasma's electromagnetic response at temperatures and densities relevant for intermediate-energy heavy-ion collisions.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Signatures from pion condensation and lepton flavor asymmetries in the cosmological gravitational wave background

Large lepton flavor asymmetries at the QCD epoch could generate a pion condensation phase in the early Universe. For large enough tau lepton flavor asymmetries, the speed of sound can exceed the conformal value, leaving a distinctive imprint on the low-frequency gravitational wave (GW) spectrum from causal sources. Beyond probing the formation of a pion condensation phase, the detection or non-detection of this signature in future Pulsar Timing Arrays (PTAs) datasets would provide a novel constraint on lepton asymmetries in the early Universe. We determine the corresponding GW spectrum and its tilt, comparing them with the standard case of vanishing lepton asymmetry. Finally, we discuss the implications for the stochastic GW background reported by PTAs, using the NANOGrav 15-year dataset.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Chiral symmetry breaking and pion condensation in the early universe

We determine the possible trajectories the universe may have followed in the QCD phase diagram during the QCD epoch. We focus on the roles of chiral symmetry breaking and pion condensation under high imbalances in lepton asymmetry. Adopting the quark-meson model as an effective description of QCD at finite temperature, charge and baryon chemical potentials we show that, for sufficiently large but physically motivated asymmetries, the universe may have entered the pion condensation phase through a first-order phase transition, followed by a second-order phase transition when exiting it. Such a first-order phase transition represents a new possible source of primordial gravitational waves during the QCD epoch.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Power corrections to the photon polarization tensor in a hot and dense medium of massive fermions

We compute the $\mathcal{O}(k^2)$ terms (power corrections) of the photon polarization tensor in a hot and dense medium of particles with a small but finite mass, i.e., $0< m\ll T, μ$. We perform our calculations within the hard thermal loop approximation in the real-time formalism, and evaluate the first nonzero mass corrections. For a renormalization scale $\barΛ\sim T$, these mass contributions determine the temperature dependence of the power corrections. These results have direct implications in the computation of electric and magnetic susceptibilities of hot and dense media in equilibrium. We address such implications and make comparisons with previous results.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

Strange magnetars admixed with fermionic dark matter

We discuss strange stars admixed with fermionic dark matter in the presence of a strong magnetic field using the two-fluid Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkov equations. We describe strange quark matter using the MIT bag model and consider magnetic fields in the range $\sim 10^{17}-10^{18}$ G. For the fermionic dark matter, we consider the cases of free particles and strongly self-interacting particles, with dark fermion masses $m=5, 100, 500$ GeV. We discuss the effects of dark matter and a strong magnetic field on the masses and radii of the stars, as well as on its tidal deformability. Even though strong magnetic fields contribute to decreasing the total mass of the star, they attenuate the rate of decrease in the maximum mass brought about by increasing the dark matter fraction in the admixed system. The most intensely affected observable, however, is the tidal deformability, with variations on the range of $70\%-90\%$ for reasonable values of the magnetic field or dark matter central energy density.

hep-ph↗