Related papers: Topology and axions in QCD
We present the first determination of the topological susceptibility from lattice QCD in the presence of strong background magnetic fields. Our simulations employ 2+1 flavours of stout improved staggered quarks with physical masses and…
We investigate the topological susceptibility of the QCD vacuum with two flavours of dynamical staggered fermions on the lattice both at zero and finite temperature. At zero temperature we study the dependence of the signal on the fermion…
A remarkable progress has been made in the understanding of the hot and dense QCD matter using lattice gauge theory. The issues which are very well understood as well those which require both conceptual as well as algorithmic advances are…
We review the current methods and results of lattice simulations of quantum chromodynamics at nonzero temperatures and densities. The review is intended to introduce the subject to interested nonspecialists and beginners. It includes a…
Axions as dark matter is an increasingly important subject in astrophysics and cosmology. Experimental and observational searches are mounting across the mass spectrum of axion-like particles, many of which require detailed knowledge of…
QCD at finite density presents specific challenges to lattice gauge theory. Nonetheless, a region of the QCD phase diagram up to moderately large baryon chemical potentials has been successfully explored on the lattice and new results and…
We propose a framework in which the QCD axion has an exponentially large coupling to photons, relying on the "clockwork" mechanism. We discuss the impact of present and future axion experiments on the parameter space of the model. In…
Neither the chiral limit nor finite baryon density can be simulated directly in lattice QCD, which severely limits our understanding of the QCD phase diagram. In this review I collect results for the phase structure in an extended parameter…
Matter described by Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), the theory of strong interactions, may undergo phase transitions when its temperature and the chemical potentials are varied. QCD at finite temperature is studied in the laboratory by…
Despite the numerous successful applications of lattice QCD in nuclear and particle theory, fundamental algorithmic challenges remain. Among those, relevant for numerical studies of QCD on a space-time torus, is topological freezing--a form…
We discuss some cosmological aspects of supersymmetric axion models in which the axion scale is radiatively generated in terms of the weak scale and the Planck scale. They include thermal inflation, axions produced by the decay of…
We investigate how the topological charge density in lattice QCD simulations is affected by violations of chiral symmetry caused by the fermion action. To this end we compare lattice configurations generated with a number of different…
We review various theoretical approaches to the states of QCD matter out of quarks and gluons in extreme environments such as the high-temperature states at zero and finite baryon density and the dimensionally reduced state under an intense…
We investigate the level-crossing phenomenon in two-axion systems, where the mass eigenvalues intersect as the mass of one axion increases with the cooling of the universe. This phenomenon can significantly alter the abundance of axions in…
In this lecture we review several cosmological issues associated with the axion. Axion solves the strong CP problem and is a good candidate for the dark matter. Limits, which are imposed by the value of isocurvature fluctuations fraction in…
Overlap fermions implement exact chiral symmetry on the lattice and are thus an appropriate tool for investigating the chiral and topological structure of the QCD vacuum. We study various chiral and topological aspects on…
The impact of dynamical fermions on the vacuum structure of QCD is explored. Of particular interest is the topological charge correlator, $<q(x) q(0) >$, where negative values at small $x$ reveal a sign-alternating layered structure to the…
We provide an overview of the present understanding of the transition from hadrons to a quark-gluon plasma, its signatures, and the experimental results so far. We discuss results of numerical simulations of the lattice gauge theory and…
Out of the many exciting results obtained with the lattice approach to QCD under extreme conditions, I discuss a few selected items related to chiral symmetry: the chiral condensate as an approximate order parameter, meson screening masses,…
The different phases of QCD at finite temperature and density lead to interesting effects in cosmology and astrophysics. In this work I review some aspects of the cosmological QCD transition and of astrophysics at high baryon density.