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Soma Sanyal

Publications and source records attributed to Soma Sanyal.

34 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Primordial magnetic field generation in the Quark Gluon Plasma phase

In this work we investigate the possibility of generation of primordial magnetic field in the early universe near the QCD phase transition epoch via the collapse of $Z(3)$ domains. The $Z(3)$ domain walls arise in the deconfined phase of the QCD (above $T\sim 200$ MeV) and their collapse leads to a net quark concentration near the wall boundary due to non-trivial reflection of quarks. We look at the response of leptons to this quark excess and find that leptons do not cancel the electric charge concentration due to the quarks. The wall collapse and a net charge concentration can lead to the generation of vorticity and turbulence in the primordial plasma. We estimate the magnitude of the magnetic field generated and find that it can be quite large $\mathcal{O}(10^{15-18}\mathrm{G})$. The mechanism is independent of the order of the QCD phase transition.

hep-ph↗

Diffusion of massive particles around an Abelian-Higgs string

We study the diffusion of massive particles in the space time of an Abelian Higgs string. The particles in the early universe plasma execute Brownian motion. This motion of the particles is modeled as a two dimensional random walk in the plane of the Abelian Higgs string. The particles move randomly in the space time of the string according to their geodesic equations. We observe that for certain values of their energy and angular momentum, an overdensity of particles is observed close to the string. We find that the string parameters determine the distribution of the particles. We make an estimate of the density fluctuation generated around the string as a function of the deficit angle. Though the thickness of the string is small, the length is large and the overdensity close to the string may have cosmological consequences in the early universe.

hep-ph↗

Particle temperature and the Chiral Vortical Effect in the early universe

We study the effect of hotter or colder particles on the evolution of the chiral magnetic field in the early universe. We are interested in the temperature dependent term in the chiral vortical effect. There are no changes in the magnetic energy spectrum at large lengthscales but in the Kolmogorov regime we do find a difference. Our numerical results show that the Gaussian peak in the magnetic spectrum becomes negatively skewed. The negatively skewed peak can be fitted with a beta distribution. Analytically one can relate the non-Gaussianity of the distribution to the temperature dependent vorticity term. The vorticity term is therefore responsible for the beta distribution in the magnetic spectrum. Since the beta distribution has already been used to model turbulent dispersion in fluids, hence it seems that the presence of hotter or colder particles may lead to turbulence in the magnetized plasma.

hep-ph↗

Primordial Magnetic Field Via Weibel Instability In The Quark Gluon Plasma Phase

The origin of the observed large scale magnetic fields in the Universe is a mystery. The seed of these magnetic fields has been attributed to physical process in the early universe. In this work we provide a mechanism for the generation of a primordial magnetic field in the early universe via the Weibel instability in the quark gluon plasma. The Weibel instability occurs in the plasma if there is an anisotropy in the particle distribution function of the particles. In early universe, the velocity anisotropy required for Weibel instability to operate is generated in the quark gluon plasma by the collapse of closed $Z(3)$ domain walls that arise in the deconfined phase of the QCD (above $T\sim 200$ MeV). Such large domains can arise in the context of certain low energy scale inflationary models. The closed domains undergo supersonic collapse and the velocity anisotropy is generated in the shocks produced in the wake of the collapsing domain walls. This results in a two stream Weibel instability in the ultra-relativistic quark gluon plasma. The instability in turn generates strong magnetic fields in the plasma. We find that the field strengths generated can be comparable to the equipartition energy density at the QCD scale which is of the order of $10^{18}$ G.

hep-ph↗

Baryon inhomogeneities in a charged quark gluon plasma

We study the generation of baryon inhomogeneities in regions of the quark gluon plasma which have a charge imbalance. We find that the overdensity in the baryon lumps for positively charged particles is different from the overdensity due to the negatively charged particles. Since quarks are charged particles, the probability of forming neutrons or protons in the lumps would thus be changed. The probability of forming hadrons having quarks of the same charges would be enhanced. This might have interesting consequences for the inhomogeneous nucleosynthesis calculations.

hep-ph↗

Effect of citation patterns on network structure

We propose a model for an evolving citation network that incorporates the citation pattern followed in a particular discipline. We define the citation pattern in a discipline by three factors. The average number of references per article, the probability of citing an article based on its age and the number of citations it already has. We also consider the average number of articles published per year in the discipline. We propose that the probability of citing an article based on its age can be modeled by a lifetime distribution. The lifetime distribution models the citation lifetime of an average article in a particular discipline. We find that the citation lifetime distribution in a particular discipline predicts the topological structure of the citation network in that discipline. We show that the power law exponent depends on the three factors that define the citation pattern. Finally we fit the data from the Physical Review D journal to obtain the citation pattern and calculate the total degree distribution for the citation network.

physics.soc-ph↗

Viscous instabilities in flowing foams: A Cellular Potts Model approach

The Cellular Potts Model (CPM) succesfully simulates drainage and shear in foams. Here we use the CPM to investigate instabilities due to the flow of a single large bubble in a dry, monodisperse two-dimensional flowing foam. As in experiments in a Hele-Shaw cell, above a threshold velocity the large bubble moves faster than the mean flow. Our simulations reproduce analytical and experimental predictions for the velocity threshold and the relative velocity of the large bubble, demonstrating the utility of the CPM in foam rheology studies.

cond-mat.soft↗

Excited hadrons as a signal for quark-gluon plasma formation

At the quark-hadron transition, when quarks get confined to hadrons, certain orbitally excited states, namely those which have excitation energies above the respective $L = 0$ states of the same order as the transition temperature $T_c$, may form easily because of thermal velocities of quarks at the transition temperature. We propose that the ratio of multiplicities of such excited states to the respective $L = 0$ states can serve as an almost model independent signal for the quark-gluon plasma formation in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. For example, the ratio $R^*$ of multiplicities of $D_{SJ}^{*\pm}(2317)(J^P = 0^+)$ and $D_S^{*\pm}(2112)(J^P = 1^-)$ when plotted with respect to the center of mass energy of the collision $\sqrt{s}$ (or vs. centrality/number of participants), should show a jump at the value of $\sqrt{s}$ beyond which the QGP formation occurs. This should happen irrespective of the shape of the overall plot of $R^*$ vs. $\sqrt{s}$. Recent data from RHIC on $Λ^*/Λ$ vs. N$_{part}$ for large values of N$_{part}$ may be indicative of such a behavior, though there are large error bars. We give a list of several other such candidate hadronic states.

hep-ph↗

Skyrmion formation in 1+1 dimensions with chemical potential

Formation of topological objects during phase transitions has been discussed extensively in literature. In all these discussions defects and anti-defects form with equal probabilities. In contrast, many physical situations, such as formation of baryons in relativistic heavy-ion collisions at present energies, flux tube formation in superconductors in the presence of external magnetic field, and formation of superfluid vortices in a rotating vessel, require a mechanism which can bias (say) defects over anti-defects. Such a bias can crucially affect defect-anti-defect correlations, apart from its effects on defect density. In this paper we initiate an investigation for the basic mechanism of biased formation of defects. For Skyrmions in 1+1 dimensions, we show that incorporation of a chemical potential term in the effective potential leads to a domain structure where order parameter is spatially varying. We show that this leads to biased formation of Skyrmions.

hep-ph↗

Neutrino inflation of baryon inhomogeneities in strong magnetic fields

Baryon inhomogeneitites formed in the early universe are important as they affect the nucleosynthesis calculations. Since they are formed much before the nucleosynthesis epoch, neutrino inflation plays a crucial role in damping out these fluctuations. Now neutrinos, in turn, are affected by magnetic fields which may be present in the early universe. In this work we study the evolution of baryonic inhomogeneities due to neutrino induced dissipative processes in the presence of a background magnetic field. We find that at higher temperatures the dissipation of the inhomogeneities are enhanced as the magnetic field increases. Our study also shows that at lower temperatures the same magnetic field may produce less dissipation. Though we limit our study to temperatures below the quark-hadron transition we do establish that magnetic fields present in the early universe affect the dissipation of baryonic inhomogeneities.

hep-ph↗

Effect of pre-existing baryon inhomogeneities on the dynamics of quark-hadron transition

Baryon number inhomogeneities may be generated during the epoch when the baryon asymmetry of the universe is produced, e.g. at the electroweak phase transition. The regions with excess baryon number will have a lower temperature than the background temperature of the universe. Also the value of the quark hadron transition temperature $T_c$ will be different in these regions as compared to the background region. Since a first-order quark hadron transition is very susceptible to small changes in temperature, we investigate the effect of the presence of such baryonic lumps on the dynamics of quark-hadron transition. We find that the phase transition is delayed in these lumps for significant overdensities. Consequently, we argue that baryon concentration in these regions grows by the end of the transition. We briefly discuss some models which may give rise to such high overdensities at the onset of the quark-hadron transition.

hep-ph↗

Baryon inhomogeneity generation via cosmic strings at QCD scale and its effects on nucleosynthesis

We have earlier shown that cosmic strings moving through the plasma at the time of a first order quark-hadron transition in the early universe can generate large scale baryon inhomogeneities. In this paper, we calculate detailed structure of these inhomogeneities at the quark-hadron transition. Our calculations show that the inhomogeneities generated by cosmic string wakes can strongly affect nucleosynthesis calculations. A comparison with observational data suggests that such baryon inhomogeneities should not have existed at the nucleosynthesis epoch. If this disagreement holds with more accurate observations, then it will lead to the conclusions that cosmic string formation scales above $10^{14} - 10^{15}$ GeV may not be consistent with nucleosynthesis and CMBR observations. Alternatively, some other input in our calculation should be constrained, for example, if the average string velocity remains sufficiently small so that significant density perturbations are never produced at the QCD scale, or if strings move ultra-relativistically so that string wakes are very thin, trapping negligible amount of baryons. Finally, if quark-hadron transition is not of first order then our calculations do not apply.

hep-ph↗

Sustaining supercooled mixed phase via resonant oscillations of the order parameter

We investigate the dynamics of a first order transition when the order parameter field undergoes resonant oscillations, driven by a periodically varying parameter of the free energy. This parameter could be a background oscillating field as in models of pre-heating after inflation. In the context of condensed matter systems, it could be temperature $T$, or pressure, external electric/magnetic field etc. We show that with suitable driving frequency and amplitude, the system remains in a type of mixed phase, without ever completing transition to the stable phase, even when the oscillating parameter of the free energy remains below the corresponding critical value (for example, with oscillating temperature, $T$ always remains below the critical temperature $T_c$). This phenomenon may have important implications. In cosmology, it will imply prolonged mixed phase in a first order transition due to coupling with background oscillating fields. In condensed matter systems, it will imply that using oscillating temperature (or, more appropriately, pressure waves) one may be able to sustain liquids in a mixed phase indefinitely at low temperatures, without making transition to the frozen phase.

cond-mat↗

Baryogenesis via Density Fluctuations with a Second Order Electroweak Phase Transition

We consider the presence of cosmic string induced density fluctuations in the universe at temperatures below the electroweak phase transition temperature. Resulting temperature fluctuations can restore the electroweak symmetry locally, depending on the amplitude of fluctuations and the background temperature. The symmetry will be spontaneously broken again in a given fluctuation region as the temperature drops there (for fluctuations with length scales smaller than the horizon), resulting in the production of baryon asymmetry. The time scale of the transition will be governed by the wavelength of fluctuation and, hence, can be much smaller than the Hubble time. This leads to strong enhancement in the production of baryon asymmetry for a second order electroweak phase transition as compared to the case when transition happens due to the cooling of the universe via expansion. For a two-Higgs extension of the Standard Model (with appropriate CP violation), we show that one can get the required baryon to entropy ratio if fluctuations propagate without getting significantly damped. If fluctuations are damped rapidly, then a volume factor suppresses the baryon production. Still, the short scale of the fluctuation leads to enhancement of the baryon to entropy ratio by at least 3 - 4 orders of magnitude compared to the conventional case of second order transition where the cooling happens due to expansion of the universe.

hep-ph↗

Formation and Collapse of False Vacuum Bubbles in Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions

It is possible that under certain situations, in a relativistic heavy-ion collision, partons may expand out forming a shell like structure. We analyze the process of hadronization in such a picture for the case when the quark-hadron transition is of first order, and argue that the inside region of such a shell must correspond to a supercooled (to $T = 0$) deconfined vacuum. Hadrons from that region escape out, leaving a bubble of pure deconfined vacuum with large vacuum energy. This bubble undergoes relativistic collapse, with highly Lorentz contracted bubble walls, and may concentrate the entire energy into extremely small regions. Eventually different portions of bubble wall collide, with the energy being released in the form of particle production. Thermalization of this system can lead to very high temperatures. With a reasonably conservative set of parameters, at LHC, the temperature of the hot spot can reach as high as 3 GeV, and well above it with more optimistic parameters. Such a hot spot can leave signals like large $P_T$ partons, dileptons, and enhanced production of heavy quarks. We also briefly discuss a speculative possibility where the electroweak symmetry may get restored in the highly dense region resulting from the decay of the bubble wall via the phenomenon of non-thermal symmetry restoration (which is usually employed in models of pre-heating after inflation). If that could happen then the possibility may arise of observing sphaleron induced baryon number violation in relativistic heavy-ion collisions.

hep-ph↗

Cosmic string induced sheet like baryon inhomogeneities at quark-hadron transition

Cosmic strings moving through matter produce wakes where density is higher than the background density. We investigate the effects of such wakes occurring at the time of a first order quark-hadron transition in the early universe and show that they can lead to separation of quark-gluon plasma phase in the wake region, while the region outside the wake converts to the hadronic phase. Moving interfaces then trap large baryon densities in sheet like regions which can extend across the entire horizon. Typical separation between such sheets, at formation, is of the order of a km. Regions of baryon inhomogeneity of this nature, i.e. having a planar geometry, and separated by such large distance scales, appear to be well suited for the recent models of inhomogeneous nucleosynthesis to reconcile with the large baryon to photon ratio implied by the recent measurements of the cosmic microwave background power spectrum.

hep-ph↗