Showing papers by "Xu-Guang Huang published in 2016"

Electromagnetic fields and anomalous transports in heavy-ion collisions-a pedagogical review.

Abstract: The hot and dense matter generated in heavy-ion collisions may contain domains which are not invariant under P and CP transformations. Moreover, heavy-ion collisions can generate extremely strong magnetic fields as well as electric fields. The interplay between the electromagnetic field and triangle anomaly leads to a number of macroscopic quantum phenomena in these P- and CP-odd domains known as anomalous transports. The purpose of this article is to give a pedagogical review of various properties of the electromagnetic fields, the anomalous transport phenomena, and their experimental signatures in heavy-ion collisions.

Vorticity in heavy-ion collisions

Abstract: We study the event-by-event generation of flow vorticity in the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider $\mathrm{Au}+\mathrm{Au}$ collisions and CERN Large Hadron Collider $\mathrm{Pb}+\mathrm{Pb}$ collisions by using the hijing model. Different definitions of the vorticity field and velocity field are considered. A variety of properties of the vorticity are explored, including the impact parameter dependence, the collision energy dependence, the spatial distribution, the event-by-event fluctuation of the magnitude and azimuthal direction, and the time evolution. In addition, the spatial distribution of the flow helicity is also studied.

Analogy between rotation and density for Dirac fermions in a magnetic field

Abstract: We analyze the energy spectra of Dirac fermions in the presence of rotation and magnetic field. We find that the Landau degeneracy is resolved by rotation. A drastic change in the energy dispersion relation leads to the ``rotational magnetic inhibition'' that is a novel phenomenon analogous to the inverse magnetic catalysis in a magnetic system at finite chemical potential.

Testing the chiral magnetic effect with isobaric collisions

Abstract: The quark-gluon matter produced in relativistic heavy-ion collisions may contain local domains in which parity ($\mathcal{P}$) and combined charge conjugation and parity ($\mathcal{C}\mathcal{P}$) symmetries are not preserved. When coupled with an external magnetic field, such $\mathcal{P}$- and $\mathcal{C}\mathcal{P}$-odd domains will generate electric currents along the magnetic field---a phenomenon called the chiral magnetic effect (CME). Recently, the STAR Collaboration at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and the ALICE Collaboration at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) released data of charge-dependent azimuthal-angle correlators with features consistent with the CME expectation. However, the experimental observable is contaminated with significant background contributions from elliptic-flow-driven effects, which makes the interpretation of the data ambiguous. We show that the collisions of isobaric nuclei, $_{44}^{96}\mathrm{Ru}+_{44}^{96}\mathrm{Ru}$ and $_{40}^{96}\mathrm{Zr}+_{40}^{96}\mathrm{Zr}$, provide an ideal tool to disentangle the CME signal from the background effects. Our simulation demonstrates that the two collision types at $\sqrt{{s}_{NN}}=200$ GeV have more than $10%$ difference in the CME signal and less than $2%$ difference in the elliptic-flow-driven backgrounds for the centrality range of 20--60%.

Spin-polarized neutron matter: Critical unpairing and BCS-BEC precursor

Abstract: We obtain the critical magnetic field required for complete destruction of $S$-wave pairing in neutron matter, thereby setting limits on the pairing and superfluidity of neutrons in the crust and outer core of magnetars. We find that for fields $B\ensuremath{\ge}{10}^{17}$ G the neutron fluid is nonsuperfluid---if weaker spin 1 superfluidity does not intervene---a result with profound consequences for the thermal, rotational, and oscillatory behavior of magnetars. Because the dineutron is not bound in vacuum, cold dilute neutron matter cannot exhibit a proper BCS-BEC crossover. Nevertheless, owing to the strongly resonant behavior of the $nn$ interaction at low densities, neutron matter shows a precursor of the BEC state, as manifested in Cooper-pair correlation lengths being comparable to the interparticle distance. We make a systematic quantitative study of this type of BCS-BEC crossover in the presence of neutron fluid spin polarization induced by an ultrastrong magnetic field. We evaluate the Cooper-pair wave function, quasiparticle occupation numbers, and quasiparticle spectra for densities and temperatures spanning the BCS-BEC crossover region. The phase diagram of spin-polarized neutron matter is constructed and explored at different polarizations.

Stoner ferromagnetism of a strongly interacting Fermi gas in the quasirepulsive regime

Abstract: Recent advances in rapidly quenched ultracold atomic Fermi gases near a Feshbach resonance have brought about a number of interesting problems in the context of observing the long-sought Stoner ferromagnetic phase transition. The possibility of experimentally obtaining a ``quasirepulsive'' regime in the upper branch of the energy spectrum due to the rapid quench is currently being debated, and the Stoner transition has mainly been investigated theoretically by using perturbation theory or at high polarization due to the limited theoretical approaches in the strongly repulsive regime. In this work, we present a nonperturbative theoretical approach to the quasirepulsive upper branch of a Fermi gas near a broad Feshbach resonance, and we determine the finite-temperature phase diagram for the Stoner instability. Our results agree well with the known quantum Monte Carlo simulations at zero temperature, and we recover the known virial expansion prediction at high temperature for arbitrary interaction strengths. At resonance, we find that the Stoner transition temperature becomes of the order of the Fermi temperature, around which the molecule formation rate becomes vanishingly small. This suggests a feasible way to observe Stoner ferromagnetism in the nondegenerate temperature regime.

Chiral phase transition and Schwinger mechanism in a pure electric field

Abstract: We systematically study the chiral symmetry breaking and restoration in the presence of a pure electric field in the Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model at finite temperature and baryon chemical potential. In addition, we also study the effect of the chiral phase transition on the charged pair production due to the Schwinger mechanism. For these purposes, a general formalism for parallel electric and magnetic fields is developed at finite temperature and chemical potential for the first time. In the pure electric field limit $B\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$, we compute the order parameter, the transverse-to-longitudinal ratio of the Goldstone mode velocities, and the Schwinger pair production rate as functions of the electric field. The inverse catalysis effect of the electric field to chiral symmetry breaking is recovered. And the Goldstone mode is found to disperse anisotropically such that the transverse velocity is always smaller than the longitudinal one, especially at nonzero temperature and baryon chemical potential. As expected, the quark-pair production rate is greatly enhanced by the chiral symmetry restoration.

Conventional and Unconventional Pairing and Condensates in Dilute Nuclear Matter

Abstract: This contribution will survey recent progress toward an understanding of diverse pairing phenomena in dilute nuclear matter at small and moderate isospin asymmetry, with results of potential relevance to supernova envelopes and proto-neutron stars. Application of ab initio many-body techniques has revealed a rich array of temperature-density phase diagrams, indexed by isospin asymmetry, which feature both conventional and unconventional superfluid phases. At low density there exist a homogeneous translationally invariant BCS phase, a homogeneous LOFF phase violating translational invariance, and an inhomogeneous translationally invariant phase-separated BCS phase. The transition from the BCS to the BEC phases is characterized in terms of the evolution, from weak to strong coupling, of the pairing gap, condensate wave function, and quasiparticle occupation numbers and spectra. Additionally, a schematic formal analysis of pairing in neutron matter at low to moderate densities is presented that establishes conditions for the emergence of both conventional and unconventional pairing solutions and encompasses the possibility of dineutron formation.

Vector meson condensation in a pion superfluid

Abstract: We revisit the suggestion that charged $\ensuremath{\rho}$-mesons undergo Bose-Einstein condensation in isospin-rich nuclear matter. Using a simple version of the Nambu--Jona-Lasinio (NJL) model, we conclude that $\ensuremath{\rho}$-meson condensation is either avoided or postponed to isospin chemical potentials much higher than the $\ensuremath{\rho}$-meson mass as a consequence of the repulsive interaction with the preformed pion condensate. In order to support our numerical results, we work out a linear sigma model for pions and $\ensuremath{\rho}$-mesons, showing that the two models lead to similar patterns of medium dependence of meson masses. As a byproduct, we analyze in detail the mapping between the NJL model and the linear sigma model, focusing on conditions that must be satisfied for a quantitative agreement between the models.

A quarksonic matter at high isospin density

Abstract: Analogous to the quarkyonic matter at high baryon density in which the quark Fermi seas and the baryonic excitations coexist, it is argued that a "quarksonic matter" phase appears at high isospin density where the quark (antiquark) Fermi seas and the mesonic excitations coexist. We explore this phase in detail in both large $N_c$ and asymptotically free limits: In large $N_c$ limit, we sketch a phase diagram for the quarksonic matter. In the asymptotically free limit, we study the pion superfluidity and thermodynamics of the quarksonic matter by using both perturbative calculations and effective model.

Conventional and Unconventional Pairing and Condensates in Dilute Nuclear Matter

Abstract: This contribution will survey recent progress toward an understanding of diverse pairing phenomena in dilute nuclear matter at small and moderate isospin asymmetry, with results of potential relevance to supernova envelopes and proto-neutron stars. Application of {\it ab initio} many-body techniques has revealed a rich array of temperature-density phase diagrams, indexed by isospin asymmetry, which feature both conventional and unconventional superfluid phases. At low density there exist a homogeneous translationally invariant BCS phase, a homogeneous LOFF phase violating translational invariance, and an inhomogeneous translationally invariant phase-separated BCS phase. The transition from the BCS to the BEC phases is characterized in terms of the evolution, from weak to strong coupling, of the pairing gap, condensate wave function, and quasiparticle occupation numbers and spectra. Additionally, a schematic formal analysis of pairing in neutron matter at low to moderate densities is presented that establishes conditions for the emergence of both conventional and unconventional pairing solutions and encompasses the possibility of dineutron formation.