arXiv subjects

Vladimir V. Skokov

Publications and source records attributed to Vladimir V. Skokov.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Multiparticle correlations and collectivity in small systems from the initial state

We report on recent progress in understanding multiparticle correlations in small systems from the initial state. First, we consider a proof-of-principle parton model, which we use to demonstrate that many of the multiparticle correlations observed in light-heavy ion collisions, often ascribed to hydrodynamic collectivity, can be qualitatively reproduced in an initial state model. Then, we study the two-particle harmonics $v_2$ and $v_3$ for p/d/$^3$He+Au collisions at RHIC using the dilute-dense Color Glass Condensate Effective Field Theory framework. We show that this provides a viable alternative explanation to hydrodynamics, and elaborate on how such modeling can be improved.

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arXiv2018

Fluctuations in cool quark matter and the phase diagram of Quantum Chromodynamics

We consider the phase diagram of hadronic matter as a function of temperature, T , and baryon chemical potential, mu. Currently the dominant paradigm is a line of first order transitions which ends at a critical endpoint. In this work we suggest that spatially inhomogenous phases are a generic feature of the hadronic phase diagram at nonzero mu and low T . Familiar examples are pion and kaon condensates. At higher densities, we argue that these condensates connect onto chiral spirals in a quarkyonic regime. Both of these phases exhibit the spontaneous breaking of a global U(1) symmetry and quasi-long range order, analogous to smectic liquid crystals. We argue that there is a continuous line of first order transitions which separate spatially inhomogenous from homogenous phases, where the latter can be either a hadronic phase or a quark-gluon plasma. While mean field theory predicts that there is a Lifshitz point along this line of first order transitions, in three spatial dimensions strong infrared fluctuations wash out any Lifshitz point. Using known results from inhomogenous polymers, we suggest that instead there is a Lifshitz regime. Non-perturbative effects are large in this regime, where the momentum dependent terms for the propagators of pions and associated modes are dominated not by terms quadratic in momenta, but quartic. Fluctuations in a Lifshitz regime may be directly relevant to the collisions of heavy ions at (relatively) low energies, sqrt(s)/A : 1 to 20 GeV.

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arXiv2018

Hierarchy of azimuthal anisotropy harmonics in collisions of small systems from the Color Glass Condensate

We demonstrate that the striking systematics of two-particle azimuthal Fourier harmonics $v_2$ and $v_3$ in ultrarelativistic collisions of protons, deuterons and helium-3 ions off gold nuclei measured by the PHENIX Collaboration [arXiv:1805.02973] at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) is reproduced in the Color Glass Condensate (CGC) effective field theory. This contradicts the claim in [arXiv:1805.02973] that their data rules out initial state based explanations. The underlying systematics of the effect, as discussed previously in [arXiv:1705.00745,arXiv:1706.06260,arXiv:1801.09704], arise from the differing structure of strong color correlations between gluon domains of size $1/Q_S$ at fine ($p_\perp \gtrapprox Q_S$) or coarser ($p_\perp \lessapprox Q_S$) transverse momentum resolution. Further tests of the limits of validity of this framework can be carried out in light-heavy ion collisions at both RHIC and the Large Hadron Collider. Such measurements also offer novel opportunities for further exploration of the role of the surprisingly large short-range nuclear correlations measured at Jefferson Lab.

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arXiv2018

Systematics of azimuthal anisotropy harmonics in proton-nucleus collisions at the LHC from the Color Glass Condensate

Simple power counting arguments in the dilute-dense framework of the Color Glass Condensate (CGC) Effective Field Theory predict that even and odd azimuthal anisotropy harmonics of two-particle correlations in proton-nucleus collisions at the LHC will respectively satisfy v^2_{2n} ~ N_{ch}^0 and v^2_{2n+1} ~ N_{ch}, where N_{ch} denotes the number of charged particles. We show that these expectations are borne out qualitatively, and even quantitatively, within systematic uncertainties, for v_2 and v_4 in comparisons with data from the ATLAS collaboration. We also observe that ATLAS data for the v_3 azimuthal harmonic are in excellent agreement with our qualitative expectation; quantitative comparisons are numerically challenging at present. The lessons from this study fully complement those gained by the recent comparison of the CGC dilute-dense framework [arXiv:1805.09342] to data from the PHENIX collaboration on small system collisions at RHIC.

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arXiv2018

Does shape matter? v_2 vs eccentricity in small x gluon production

We study analytically and numerically effects of spatial eccentricity of the projectile shape on the second flow harmonic in inclusive gluon production in p-A collisions in the CGC framework. Keeping the collision area fixed, we find that the two quantities are anti-correlated.

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arXiv2018

When gluons go odd: how classical gluon fields generate odd azimuthal harmonics for the two-gluon correlation function in high-energy collisions

We show that, in the saturation/Color Glass Condensate framework, odd azimuthal harmonics of the two-gluon correlation function with a long-range separation in rapidity are generated by the higher-order saturation corrections in the interactions with the projectile and the target. At the very least, the odd harmonics require three scatterings in the projectile and three scatterings in the target. We derive the leading-order expression for the two-gluon production cross section which generates odd harmonics: the expression includes all-order interactions with the target and three interactions with the projectile. We evaluate the obtained expression both analytically and numerically, confirming that the odd-harmonics contribution to the two-gluon production in the saturation framework is non-zero.

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arXiv2017

Possible higher order phase transition in large-$N$ gauge theory at finite temperature

We analyze the phase structure of $SU(\infty)$ gauge theory at finite temperature using matrix models. Our basic assumption is that the effective potential is dominated by double-trace terms for the Polyakov loops. As a function of the temperature, a background field for the Polyakov loop, and a quartic coupling, it exhibits a universal structure: in the large portion of the parameter space, there is a continuous phase transition analogous to the third-order phase transition of Gross, Witten and Wadia, but the order of phase transition can be higher than third. We show that different confining potentials give rise to drastically different behavior of the eigenvalue density and the free energy. Therefore lattice simulations at large $N$ could probe the order of phase transition and test our results.

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arXiv2017

Finite-temperature phase transitions of third and higher order in gauge theories at large $N$

We study phase transitions in $SU(\infty)$ gauge theories at nonzero temperature using matrix models. Our basic assumption is that the effective potential is dominated by double trace terms for the Polyakov loops. As a function of the various parameters, related to terms linear, quadratic, and quartic in the Polyakov loop, the phase diagram exhibits a universal structure. In a large region of this parameter space, there is a continuous phase transition whose order is larger than second. This is a generalization of the phase transition of Gross, Witten, and Wadia (GWW). Depending upon the detailed form of the matrix model, the eigenvalue density and the behavior of the specific heat near the transition differ drastically. We speculate that in the pure gauge theory, that although the deconfining transition is thermodynamically of first order, it can be nevertheless conformally symmetric at infinite $N$.

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arXiv2016

Volume dependence of baryon number cumulants and their ratios

We explore the influence of finite volume effects on baryon number fluctuations in a non-perturbative chiral model. In order to account for soft modes, we use the functional renormalization group in a finite volume, using a smooth regulator function in momentum space. We compare the results for a smooth regulator with those for a sharp (or Litim) regulator, and show that in a finite volume, the latter produces spurious artifacts. In a finite volume there are only apparent critical points, about which we compute the ratio of the fourth to the second order cumulant of quark number fluctuations. When the volume is sufficiently small the system has two apparent critical points; as the system size decreases, the location of the apparent critical point can move to higher temperature and lower chemical potential.

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arXiv2016

Chiral matrix model of the semi-Quark Gluon Plasma in QCD

A chiral matrix model applicable to QCD with 2+1 flavors is developed. This requires adding a SU(3)_L x SU(3)_R x Z(3)_A nonet of scalar fields, with both parities, and coupling these to quarks through a Yukawa coupling, y. Treating the scalar fields in mean field approximation, the effective Lagrangian is computed by integrating out quarks to one loop order. In addition to the usual symmetry breaking term, linear in the current quark mass m_qk, at a nonzero temperature T it is necessary to add a new term, ~ m_qk T^2. The parameters of the gluon part of the matrix model are identical to that for the pure glue theory without quarks. The parameters in the chiral matrix model are fixed by the values, at zero temperature, of the pion decay constant and the masses of the pions, kaons, eta, and eta'. The temperature for the chiral crossover at T_chi = 155 MeV is determined by adjusting the Yukawa coupling y. We find reasonable agreement with the results of numerical simulations on the lattice for the pressure and related quantities. In the chiral limit, besides the divergence in the chiral susceptibility there is also a milder divergence in the susceptibility between the Polyakov loop and the chiral order parameter, with critical exponent beta - 1. We compute derivatives with respect to a quark chemical potential to determine the susceptibilities for baryon number, the chi_2n. Especially sensitive tests are provided by chi_4 - chi_2 and by chi_6, which changes in sign about T_chi. The behavior of the susceptibilities in the chiral matrix model strongly suggests that as the temperature increases from T_chi, that the transition to deconfinement is significantly quicker than indicated by the measurements of the (renormalized) Polyakov loop on the lattice.

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arXiv2016

How tetraquarks can generate a second chiral phase transition

We consider how tetraquarks can affect the chiral phase transition in theories like QCD, with light quarks coupled to three colors. For two flavors the tetraquark field is an isosinglet, and its effect is minimal. For three flavors, however, the tetraquark field transforms in the same representation of the chiral symmetry group as the usual chiral order parameter, and so for very light quarks there may be two chiral phase transitions, which are both of first order. In QCD, results from the lattice indicate that any transition from the tetraquark condensate is a smooth crossover. In the plane of temperature and quark chemical potential, though, a crossover line for the tetraquark condensate is naturally related to the transition line for color superconductivity. For four flavors we suggest that a triquark field, antisymmetric in both flavor and color, combine to form hexaquarks.

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arXiv2016

The MV Model of the Color Glass Condensate for a Finite Number of Sources Including Coulomb Interactions

We modify the McLerran-Venugopalan model to include only a finite number of sources of color charge. We argue that Coulombic interactions between these color charges generates a source-source correlation function that properly includes the effects of color charge screening, a generalization of Debye screening for the Color Glass Condensate. Such a model may be useful for computing angular harmonics of flow measured in high energy hadron collisions for small systems. In this paper we provide a basic formulation of the problem on a lattice.

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arXiv2015

Correlation functions of Polyakov loops at tree level

We compute the correlation functions of Polyakov loops in $SU(N_c)$ gauge theories by explicitly summing all diagrams at tree level in two special cases, for $N_c = 2$ and $N_c = \infty$. When $N_c =2$ we find the expected we find Coulomb-like behavior at short distances, $\sim 1/x$ as the distance $x \rightarrow 0$. In the planar limit at $N_c = \infty$ we find a weaker singularity, $\sim 1/\sqrt{x}$ as $x \rightarrow 0$. In each case, at short distances the behavior of the correlation functions between two Polyakov loops, and the corresponding Wilson loop, are the same. We suggest that such non-Coulombic behavior is an artifact of the planar limit.

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arXiv2014

The Eccentric Collective BFKL Pomeron

We apply the flow analysis for multi-particle correlations used in heavy ion collisions to multi-particle production from a Pomeron. We show that the n'th order angular harmonic arising from an m particle correlation v_n[m] satisfies v_n[m] ~ v_n[p] for n $\ge$ 1. We discuss some implications of this for the Color Glass Condensate description of high energy hadronic collisions.

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arXiv2013

Pair production at the edge of the QED flux tube

We investigate the process of Abelian pair production in the presence of strong inhomogeneous and time-dependent external electric fields. The spatial dependence of the external field is motivated by a non-Abelian color flux tube in heavy-ion collisions. We show that the inhomogeneity significantly increase the particle yield compared to that in the commonly used models with a constant and homogeneous field. Moreover our results indicate that in contrast to the latter, most of the particles are produced at the interface of the field profile in accordance with Heisenberg's prediction.

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arXiv2013

Collisional energy loss above the critical temperature in QCD

We compute the collisional energy loss for a heavy quark above the critical temperature in Quantum ChromoDynamics (QCD). We work in the semi Quark-Gluon Plasma, which assumes that this region is dominated by the non-trivial holonomy of the thermal Wilson line. Relative to the result to leading order in perturbation theory, at a fixed value of the coupling constant we generically we find that collisional energy loss is suppressed by powers of the Polyakov loop, l < 1. For small values of the loop, this suppression is linear for the scattering off of light quarks, and quadratic for the scattering off of gluons, or for Compton scattering.

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arXiv2013

Gross-Witten-Wadia transition in a matrix model of deconfinement

We study the deconfining phase transition at nonzero temperature in a SU(N) gauge theory, using a matrix model which was analyzed previously at small N. We show that the model is soluble at infinite N, and exhibits a Gross-Witten-Wadia transition. In some ways, the deconfining phase transition is of first order: at a temperature $T_d$, the Polyakov loop jumps discontinuously from 0 to1/2, and there is a nonzero latent heat $\sim N^2$. In other ways, the transition is of second order: e.g., the specific heat diverges as $C \sim 1/(T-T_d)^{3/5}$ when $T \rightarrow T_d^+$. Other critical exponents satisfy the usual scaling relations of a second order phase transition. In the presence of a nonzero background field $h$ for the Polyakov loop, there is a phase transition at the temperature $T_h$ where the value of the loop =1/2, with $T_h < T_d$. Since $\partial C/\partial T \sim 1/(T-T_h)^{1/2}$ as $T \rightarrow T_h^+$, this transition is of third order.

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arXiv2013

Quasi-particle and matrix models of the semi Quark Gluon Plasma

We make a simple observation about two models used to treat the region near the critical temperature of QCD, quasiparticle and matrix models. While they appear very different, we show how these two models might be related. We also present results for the temperature dependence of the ratio of the shear viscosity to the entropy in a matrix model, and suggest that quasi-particle models may behave similarly.

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