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.
In the deconfined regime of a non-Abelian gauge theory at nonzero temperature, previously it was argued that if a (gauge invariant) source is added to generate nonzero holonomy, that this source must be linear for small holonomy. The simplest example of this is the second Bernoulli polynomial. However, then there is a conundrum in computing the free energy to $sim g^3$ in the coupling constant $g$, as part of the free energy is discontinuous as the holonomy vanishes. In this paper we investigate two ways of generating the second Bernoulli polynomial dynamically: as a mass derivative of an auxiliary field, and from two dimensional ghosts embedded isotropically in four dimensions. Computing the holonomous hard thermal loop (HHTL) in the gluon self-energy, we find that the limit of small holonomy is only well behaved for two dimensional ghosts, with a free energy which to $sim g^3$ is continuous as the holonomy vanishes.
We study the diffusion properties of the strongly interacting quark-gluon plasma (sQGP) and evaluate the diffusion coefficient matrix for the baryon ($B$), strange ($S$) and electric ($Q$) charges - $kappa_{qq}$ ($q,q = B, S, Q$) and show their dependence on temperature $T$ and baryon chemical potential $mu_B$. The non-perturbative nature of the sQGP is evaluated within the Dynamical Quasi-Particle Model (DQPM) which is matched to reproduce the equation of state of the partonic matter above the deconfinement temperature $T_c$ from lattice QCD. The calculation of diffusion coefficients is based on two methods: i) the Chapman-Enskog method for the linearized Boltzmann equation, which allows to explore non-equilibrium corrections for the phase-space distribution function in leading order of the Knudsen numbers as well as ii) the relaxation time approximation (RTA). In this work we explore the differences between the two methods. We find a good agreement with the available lattice QCD data in case of the electric charge diffusion coefficient (or electric conductivity) at vanishing baryon chemical potential as well as a qualitative agreement with the recent predictions from the holographic approach for all diagonal components of the diffusion coefficient matrix. The knowledge of the diffusion coefficient matrix is also of special interest for more accurate hydrodynamic simulations.
Penetrating probes in heavy-ion collisions, like jets and photons, are sensitive to the transport coefficients of the produced quark-gluon plasma, such as shear and bulk viscosity. Quantifying this sensitivity requires a detailed understanding of photon emission and jet-medium interaction in a non-equilibrium plasma. Up to now, such an understanding has been hindered by plasma instabilities which arise out of equilibrium and lead to spurious divergences when evaluating the rate of interaction of hard probes with the plasma. In this paper, we show that taking into account the time evolution of an unstable plasma cures these divergences. We calculate the time evolution of gluon two-point correlators in a setup with small initial momentum anisotropy and show that the gluon occupation density grows exponentially at early times. Based on this calculation, we argue for a phenomenological prescription where instability poles are subtracted. Finally, we show that in the Abelian case instability fields do not affect medium-induced photon emission to our order of approximation.
We consider the thermal production of dileptons and photons at temperatures above the critical temperature in QCD. We use a model where color excitations are suppressed by a small value of the Polyakov loop, the semi Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP). Comparing the semi-QGP to the perturbative QGP, we find a mild enhancement of thermal dileptons. In contrast, to leading logarithmic order in weak coupling there are far fewer hard photons from the semi-QGP than the usual QGP. To illustrate the possible effects on photon and dileptons production in heavy ion collisions, we integrate the rate with a realistic hydrodynamic simulation. Dileptons uniformly exhibit a small flow, but the strong suppression of photons in the semi-QGP tends to bias the elliptical flow of photons to that generated in the hadronic phase.
A system H with a Hagedorn-like mass spectrum imparts its unique temperature T_H to any other system coupled to it. An H system radiates particles in preexisting physical and chemical equilibrium. These particles form a saturated vapor at temperature T_H. This coexistence describes a first order phase transition. An H system is nearly indifferent to fragmentation into smaller H systems. A lower mass cut-off in the spectrum does not significantly alter the general picture. These properties of the Hagedorn thermostats naturally explain a single value of hadronization temperature observed in elementary particle collisions at high energies and lead to some experimental predictions.