We determine a next-to-leading order result for the correlator of the shear stress operator in high-temperature Yang-Mills theory. The computation is performed via an ultraviolet expansion, valid in the limit of small distances or large momenta, and
the result is used for writing operator product expansions for the Euclidean momentum and coordinate space correlators as well as for the Minkowskian spectral density. In addition, our results enable us to confirm and refine a shear sum rule originally derived by Romatschke, Son and Meyer.
Motivated by applications in thermal QCD and cosmology, we elaborate on a general method for computing next-to-leading order spectral functions for composite operators at vanishing spatial momentum, accounting for real, virtual as well as thermal cor
rections. As an example, we compute these functions (together with the corresponding imaginary-time correlators which can be compared with lattice simulations) for scalar and pseudoscalar densities in pure Yang-Mills theory. Our results may turn out to be helpful in non-perturbative estimates of the corresponding transport coefficients, which are the bulk viscosity in the scalar channel and the rate of anomalous chirality violation in the pseudoscalar channel. We also mention links to cosmology, although the most useful results in that context may come from a future generalization of our methods to other correlators.
Lattice measurements of spatial correlation functions of the operators FF and FF-dual in thermal SU(3) gauge theory have revealed a clear difference between the two channels at intermediate distances, x ~ 1/(pi T). This is at odds with the AdS/CFT li
mit which predicts the results to coincide. On the other hand, an OPE analysis at short distances (x << 1/(pi T)) as well as effective theory methods at long distances (x >> 1/(pi T)) suggest differences. Here we study the situation at intermediate distances by determining the time-averaged spatial correlators through a 2-loop computation. We do find unequal results, however the numerical disparity is small. Apart from theoretical issues, a future comparison of our results with time-averaged lattice measurements might also be of phenomenological interest in that understanding the convergence of the weak-coupling series at intermediate distances may bear on studies of the thermal broadening of heavy quarkonium resonances.
Inspired by recent lattice measurements, we determine the short-distance (a << r << 1/pi T) as well as large-frequency (1/a >> omega >> pi T) asymptotics of scalar (trace anomaly) and pseudoscalar (topological charge density) correlators at 2-loop or
der in hot Yang-Mills theory. The results are expressed in the form of an Operator Product Expansion. We confirm and refine the determination of a number of Wilson coefficients; however some discrepancies with recent literature are detected as well, and employing the correct values might help, on the qualitative level, to understand some of the features observed in the lattice measurements. On the other hand, the Wilson coefficients show slow convergence and it appears uncertain whether this approach can lead to quantitative comparisons with lattice data. Nevertheless, as we outline, our general results might serve as theoretical starting points for a number of perhaps phenomenologically more successful lines of investigation.
We determine the first independent part of the g^6 coefficient in the weak coupling expansion of the QCD pressure at high temperatures, the one proportional to the maximal power of the number of quark flavors N_f. In addition to introducing and devel
oping computational methods that can be used in evaluating other parts of the expansion, our calculation provides a result that becomes dominant in the limit of large N_f and a fixed effective coupling g_{eff}^2 = g^2 N_f/2.
We study thermal corrections to the dispersion relations of massive fundamental particles immersed in weakly coupled non-Abelian plasmas. The cases covered include quarks in the QCD (quark-gluon) plasma, as well as N=2 quarks and scalars in an N=4 Su
per Yang-Mills plasma. We perform the calculations to leading order in a weak coupling expansion, and consider all mass scales of the fundamental fields, ranging from massless particles all the way to bare masses parametrically larger than the temperature.
We outline the key elements of a recent calculation aimed at determining the equation of state of deconfined (but unpaired) quark matter at zero temperature and high density, using finite quark masses. The computation is performed in perturbation the
ory up to three loops, and necessitates the development and application of some novel computational tools. In this talk, we introduce the basic features of these new techniques and review the main sources of motivation for considering finite quark mass effects in perturbation theory.
We use the AdS/CFT correspondence to compute the drag force experienced by a heavy quark moving through a maximally supersymmetric SU(N) super Yang-Mills plasma at nonzero temperature and R-charge chemical potential and at large t Hooft coupling. We
resolve a discrepancy in the literature between two earlier studies of such quarks. In addition, we consider small fluctuations of the spinning strings dual to these probe quarks and find no evidence of instabilities. We make some comments about suitable D7-brane boundary conditions for the dual strings.
