No Arabic abstract
Within the three-flavor PNJL and EPNJL chiral quark models we have obtained pseudoscalar meson properties in quark matter at finite temperature $T$ and baryochemical potential $mu_B$. We compare the meson pole (Breit-Wigner) approximation with the Beth-Uhlenbeck (BU) approach that takes into account the continuum of quark-antiquark scattering states when determining the partial densities of pions and kaons. We evaluate the kaon-to-pion ratios along the (pseudo-)critical line in the $T-mu_B$ plane as a proxy for the chemical freezeout line, whereby the variable $x=T/mu_B$ is introduced that corresponds to the conserved entropy per baryon as initial condition for the heavy-ion collision experiments. We present a comparison with the experimental pattern of kaon-to-pion ratios within the BU approach and using $x$-dependent pion and strange quark potentials. A sharp horn effect in the energy dependence $K^+/pi^+$ ratio is explained by the enhanced pion production at energies above $sqrt{s_{NN}}=8$ GeV, when the system enters the regime of meson dominance. This effect is in line with the enhancement of low-momentum pion spectra that is discussed as a precursor of the pion Bose condensation and entails the occurrence of a nonequilibrium pion chemical potential of the order of the pion mass. We elucidate that the horn effect is not related to the existence of a critical endpoint in the QCD phase diagram.
The behavior of strange matter in the frame of the SU(3)Polyakov-loop extended Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model including $U_A(1)$ anomaly is considered. We discuss the appearance of a peak in the ratio of the number of strange mesons to non-strange mesons known as the horn. The PNJL model gives a schematic description of the chiral phase transition and meson properties at finite temperature and density. Using the model, we can show that the splitting of kaon and anti-kaon masses appears as a result of introduction of density. This may explain the difference in the $K^+/pi^+$ ratio and $K^-/pi^-$ ratio at low $sqrt{s_{NN}}$ and their tendency to the same value at high $sqrt{s_{NN}}$. We also show that the rise in the ratio $K^+/pi^+$ appears near CEP when we build the $K^+/pi^+$ ratio along the phase transition diagram and it can be considered as a critical region signal.
A sharp peak in the $K^+/pi^+$ ratio in relativistic heavy-ion collision is discussed in the framework of the SU(3) Polyakov-loop extended NJL model with vector interaction. In the model, the $K^+/pi^+$ ratio was calculated along the chiral phase transition line for different values of the vector coupling $g_V$. We showed that the value of the vector coupling had no significant effect on the $K^+/pi^+$ behaviour.
Using recently derived results for one-loop hadronic splitting functions from a nonlocal implementation of chiral effective theory, we study the contributions from pseudoscalar meson loops to flavor asymmetries in the proton. Constraining the parameters of the regulating functions by inclusive production of $n$, $Delta^{++}$, $Lambda$ and $Sigma^{*+}$ baryons in $pp$ collisions, we compute the shape of the light antiquark asymmetry $bar{d}-bar{u}$ in the proton and the strange asymmetry $s-bar{s}$ in the nucleon sea. With these constraints, the magnitude of the $bar{d}-bar{u}$ asymmetry is found to be compatible with that extracted from the Fermilab E866 Drell-Yan measurement, with no indication of a sign change at large values of $x$, and an integrated value in the range $langle bar d-bar u rangle approx 0.09-0.17$. The $s-bar s$ asymmetry is predicted to be positive at $x > 0$, with compensating negative contributions at $x=0$, and an integrated $x$-weighted moment in the range $langle x (s-bar s) rangle approx (0.9-2.5) times 10^{-3}$.
The kaon to pion ratios are discussed in the framework of a 2+1 flavor PNJL model. In order to interpret the behaviour of bound states in medium the Beth-Uhlenbeck approach is used. It is shown that in terms of phase shifts in the K+ channel an additional low-energy mode could appear as a bound state in medium since the masses of the quark constituents are different. The comparison with experimental data for the ratios is performed and the influence of the anomalous mode to the horn effect in the K+/pi+ ratio is discussed.
We present the phase diagram and the fluctuations of different conserved charges like quark number, charge and strangeness at vanishing chemical potential for the 2+1 flavor Polyakov Loop extended Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model with eight-quark interaction terms using three-momentum cutoff regularisation. The main effect of the higher order interaction term is to shift the critical end point to the lower value of the chemical potential and higher value of the temperature. The fluctuations show good qualitative agreement with the lattice data.