Related papers: Center Domains and their Phenomenological Conseque…
QCD possesses a compact gauge group, and this implies a non-trivial topological structure of the vacuum. In this contribution to the Gribov-85 Memorial volume, we first discuss the origin of Gribov copies and their interpretation in terms…
In the context of M-theory, Witten has argued that an intriguing phenomenon occurs, namely that QCD strings can end on domain walls. We present a simpler explanation of this effect using effective field theory to describe the behavior of…
As argued by Witten on the basis of M-theory, QCD strings can end on domain walls. We present an explanation of this effect in the framework of effective field theories for the Polyakov loop and the gluino condensate in N=1 supersymmetric…
A qualitative mechanism for the emergence of domain structured background gluon fields due to singularities in gauge field configurations is considered, and a model displaying a type of mean field approximation to the QCD partition function…
Singular gauge fields in the partition function for QCD can lead to a domain-like picture for the QCD vacuum by virtue of constraints on quantum fluctuations at the singularities. With a simple model of hyperspherical domains with interiors…
After reviewing some basic concepts of the theory of strongly interacting matter above nuclear energy density and reviewing some salient results of the experimental program at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), these lectures…
At nonzero temperature in QCD, about the deconfining phase transition there is a "semi" quark gluon plasma (semi-QGP), where the expectation value of the (renormalized) Polyakov loop is less than one. This can be modeled by a semiclassical…
We study a model of quark-gluon plasma of 2+1 flavors Quantum Chromodynamics in terms of quasiparticles propagating in a condensate of Polyakov loops. The Polyakov loop is coupled to quasiparticles by means of a gas-like effective…
The Polyakov-extended quark-meson model (PQM) is investigated beyond mean-field. This represents an important step towards a fully dynamical QCD computation. Both the quantum fluctuations to the matter sector and the back-reaction of the…
The Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) is the QCD phase of matter expected to be formed at small proper-times in the collision of heavy-ions at high energy. Experimental observations seem to favor a strongly coupled QCD plasma with the hydrodynamic…
We incorporate confining effects into statistical formulation of quantum chromodynamics (QCD). It implies that quark-gluon clusters existed in the early universe, triggering the information accumulation in nature. The confinement-driven…
We extend the density-of-states approach to gauge systems (LLR method) to QCD at finite temperature and density with heavy quarks. The approach features an exponential error suppression and yields the Polyakov loop probability distribution…
We study the cold and dense regime in the phase diagram of two-color QCD with heavy quarks within a three-dimensional effective theory for Polyakov loops. This theory is derived from two-color QCD in a combined strong-coupling and hopping…
We present evidence for a spatially modulated instability within the deconfined quark-gluon plasma phase of QCD. This evidence is based on robust predictions from generic holographic models, accurately fitted to lattice data, where the…
Two phenomenological models describing an SU(N) quark-gluon plasma are presented. The first is obtained from high temperature expansions of the free energy of a massive gluon, while the second is derived by demanding color neutrality over a…
We address a possible relation between the expectation value of the Polyakov loop in pure gluodynamics and full QCD based on Polyakov Chiral Quark Models where constituent quarks and the Polyakov loop are coupled in a minimal way. To this…
Polarization and chirality are direct manifestations of quantum mechanics in the Quark Gluon Plasma as a relativistic fluid. This is one of the reasons why they are intriguing phenomena, that have attracted so much attention lately. In this…
We sketch an effective theory for the deconfined state of QCD near Tc. This relates the behavior of the expectation value of the Polyakov loop, and its two-point functions, to the pressure. Defining the ``mass'' of three and two gluon…
We explore the highly non-perturbative hot region of the QCD phase diagram close to Tc by use of an imaginary chemical potential mu which avoids the sign problem. The number density and the quark number susceptibility are consistent with a…
In this document the PHENIX collaboration proposes a major upgrade to the PHENIX detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. This upgrade, sPHENIX, enables an extremely rich jet and beauty quarkonia physics program addressing…