Motivated by the scenario of resonant leptogenesis in which lepton number creation in the electroweak-scale is relevant, we investigate the spectral properties and possible collective nature of the standard model neutrinos at electroweak scale temper
ature (T). We adopt the R_xi gauge fixing, which includes the unitary gauge as a limiting case, and allows us to study the broken as well as the restored phases of the gauge symmetry in a unified way. We show that the spectral density of the neutrino has a three-peak structure in the low-momentum region due to the scattering with the thermally excited particles (i.e., Landau damping) when T becomes comparable to the weak-boson masses in the plasma. The three peaks are identified with a novel ultrasoft mode, the usual quasiparticle, and antiplasmino modes. Varying the gauge-fixing parameter, we show that the three-peak structure appears independently of the gauge fixing and thus has a physical significance. We discuss possible implications of the neutrino spectral density obtained in the present work on particle cosmology, in particular in the context of resonant leptogenesis.
We study the thermal phase transition in colour SU(3) Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) with a variable number of fermions in the fundamental representation by using lattice Monte-Carlo simulations. We collect the (pseudo) critical couplings for N_f=(0, 4
, 6,8), and we investigate the pre-conformal dynamics associated with the infra-red fixed point in terms of the N_f dependence of the transition temperature. We propose three independent estimates of the number of flavour N_f^* where the conformal phase would emerge, which give consistent results within the largish errors. We consider lines of fixed N_t in the space of (N_f, bare lattice coupling), and locate the vanishing of the step scaling function for N_f^*sim 11.1pm 1.6. We define a typical interaction strength (g_TC) at the scale of critical temperature T_c, and we find that g_TC meets the zero temperature critical couplings estimated by the two-loop Schwinger Dyson equation or the IRFP coupling in the four-loop beta-function at N_f^*sim 12.5pm 0.7. Further, we study the N_f dependences of T_c/M where M is a UV N_f independent reference scale determined by utilising the coupling at the scale of the lattice spacing. Then, T_c/M turns out to be a decreasing function of N_f, and the vanishing T_c/M indicates the emergence of the conformal window at N_f^* sim 10.4 pm 1.2.
By using the lattice Monte-Carlo simulation, we investigate the finite temperature (T) chiral phase transition at color SU(3) gauge theories with various species of fundamental fermions, and discuss the signal of the (pre-)conformality at large Nf (n
um. of flavors.) via their comparisons. As Nf increases, we observe stronger fermion screening effects which result from a larger fermion multiplicity. We investigate a finite T step-scaling associated with a uniqueness of the critical temperature (Tc) at each Nf, then the vanishing step-scaling indicates the emergence of the conformality around Nf* = 10 - 12. Further, motivated by the functional renormalization group analyses, we examine the Nf dependence of Tc, whose vanishing behavior indicates the onset of conformal window around Nf* = 9 - 10.
We investigate the chiral phase transition at finite temperature (T) in colour SU(3) Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) with six species of fermions (Nf = 6) in the fundamental representation. The simulations have been performed by using lattice QCD with i
mproved staggered fermions. The critical couplings (bc) for the chiral phase transition are observed for several temporal extensions Nt, and the two-loop asymptotic scaling of the dimensionless ratio Tc/Lambda_L (Lambda_L = Lattice Lambda-parameter) is found to be achieved for Nt >= 6. Further, we collect bc at Nf = 0 (quenched), and Nf = 4 at a fixed Nt = 6 as well as Nf = 8 at Nt = 6 and 12, the latter relying on our earlier study. The results are consistent with enhanced fermionic screening at larger Nf. The ratio Tc/Lambda_L depends very mildly on Nf in the Nf = 0-4 region, begins increasing at Nf = 6, and significantly grows up at Nf = 8, as Nf reaches to the edge of the conformal window. We discuss the interrelation of the results with preconformal dynamics in the light of a functional renormalization group analysis.
We investigate the chiral phase transition at finite temperature (T) in colour SU(Nc=3) Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) with six species of fermions (Nf=6) in the fundamental representation by using lattice QCD with improved staggered fermions. By consi
dering lattices with several temporal extensions Nt, we observe asymptotic scaling for Nt > 4. We then extract the dimensionless ratio Tc/Lambda_L (Lambda_L = Lattice Lambda-parameter) for Nf = 6 and Nf = 8, the latter relying on our earlier results. Further, we collect the critical couplings beta^c for the chiral phase transition at Nf = 0 (quenched), and Nf = 4 at a fixed Nt = 6. The results are consistent with enhanced fermionic screening at larger Nf. The Tc/Lambda_L depends very mildly on Nf in the Nf = 0 - 4 region, starts increasing at Nf = 6, and becomes significantly larger at Nf = 8, close to the edge of the conformal window. We discuss interpretations of these results as well as their possible interrelation with preconformal dynamics in the light of a functional renormalization group analysis.
We investigate the QCD phase diagram by using the strong-coupling expansion of the lattice QCD with one species of staggered fermion and the Polyakov loop effective action at finite temperature (T) and quark chemical potential (mu). We derive an anal
ytic expression of effective potential Feff including both the chiral (U(1)) and the deconfinement (Z_Nc) dynamics with finite coupling effects in the mean-field approximation. The Polyakov loop increasing rate (dl/dT) is found to have two peaks as a function of T for small quark masses. One of them is the chiral-induced peak associated with the rapid decrease of the chiral condensate. The temperature of the other peak is almost independent of the quark mass or chemical potential, and this peak is interpreted as the Z_Nc-induced peak.
We discuss the QCD phase diagram in the strong coupling limit of lattice QCD by using a new type of mean field coming from the next-to-leading order of the large dimensional expansion. The QCD phase diagram in the strong coupling limit recently obtai
ned by using the monomer-dimer-polymer (MDP) algorithm has some differences in the phase boundary shape from that in the mean field results. As one of the origin to explain the difference, we consider another type of auxiliary field, which corresponds to the point-splitting mesonic composite. Fermion determinant with this mean field under the anti-periodic boundary condition gives rise to a term which interpolates the effective potentials in the previously proposed zero and finite temperature mean field treatments. While the shift of the transition temperature at zero chemical potential is in the desirable direction and the phase boundary shape is improved, we find that the effects are too large to be compatible with the MDP simulation results.
We investigate the QCD phase diagram based on the strong coupling expansion of the lattice QCD with one species of the staggered fermions at finite temperature (T) and chemical potential (mu). We analytically derive an effective potential including b
oth chiral and deconfinement (Z_3) dynamics with finite coupling effects in mean-field approximations. We focus on Polyakov loop properties in whole T-mu plane, and study relations between the chiral and deconfinement crossovers. At a fixed large mu, sequencial rapid variations of the Polyakov loop are observed with increasing T. It is natural to interprete them as the chiral induced and Z_3 induced deconfinement crossovers.
We investigate the chiral phase transition in the strong coupling lattice QCD at finite temperature and density with finite coupling effects. We adopt one species of staggered fermion, and develop an analytic formulation based on strong coupling and
cluster expansions. We derive the effective potential as a function of two order parameters, the chiral condensate sigma and the quark number density $rho_q$, in a self-consistent treatment of the next-to-leading order (NLO) effective action terms. NLO contributions lead to modifications of quark mass, chemical potential and the quark wave function renormalization factor. While the ratio mu_c(T=0)/Tc(mu=0) is too small in the strong coupling limit, it is found to increase as beta=2Nc/g^2 increases. The critical point is found to move in the lower T direction as beta increases. Since the vector interaction induced by $rho_q$ is shown to grow as beta, the present trend is consistent with the results in Nambu-Jona-Lasinio models. The interplay between two order parameters leads to the existence of partially chiral restored matter, where effective chemical potential is automatically adjusted to the quark excitation energy.
