The δ expansion and the principle of minimal sensitivity

The δ-expansion is a nonperturbative approach for field theoretic models which combines the techniques of perturbation theory and the variational principle. Different ways of implementing the principle of minimal sensitivity to the δ-expansion produce in general different results for observables. For illustration we use the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model for chiral symmetry restoration at finite density and compare results with those obtained with the Hartree-Fock approximation.

Nucleon-nucleon interaction: Central potential and pion production

We show that the tail of the chiral two-pion exchange nucleon-nucleon potential is proportional to the pion-nucleon (πN) scalar form factor and discuss how it can be translated into effective scalar meson interactions. We then construct a kernel for the process NN → πNN, due to the exchange of two pions, which may be used in either three-body forces or pion production in NN scattering. Our final expression involves a partial cancellation among three terms, due to chiral symmetry, but the net result is still important. We also find that, at large internucleon distances, the kernel has the same spatial dependence as the central NN potential and we produce expressions relating these processes directly.

Duality in a fermionlike formulation for the electromagnetic field

We employ the Dirac-like equation for the gauge field proposed by Majorana to obtain an action that is symmetric under duality transformation. We also use the equivalence between duality and chiral symmetry in this fermionlike formulation to show how the Maxwell action can be seen as a mass term. ©2000 The American Physical Society.

Quantum vacuum in hot nuclear matter: A non-perturbative treatment

We derive the equation of state for hot nuclear matter using the Walecka model in a non-perturbative formalism. We include here the vacuum polarization effects arising from the nucleon and scalar mesons through a realignment of the vacuum. A ground state structure with baryon-antibaryon condensates yields the results obtained through the relativistic Hartree approximation of summing baryonic tadpole diagrams. Generalization of such a state to include the quantum effects for the scalar meson fields through the σ -meson condensates amounts to summing over a class of multiloop diagrams. The techniques of the thermofield dynamics method are used for the finite-temperature and finite-density calculations. The in-medium nucleon and sigma meson masses are also calculated in a self-consistent manner. We examine the liquid-gas phase transition at low temperatures (≈ 20 MeV), as well as apply the formalism to high temperatures to examine a possible chiral symmetry restoration phase transition.

Heavy-light mesons scattering from nucleons: Quark-gluon and meson exchanges

We investigate the scattering of heavy-light K and D mesons by nucleons at low energies. The short-distance part of the interaction is described by quark-gluon interchange and the longdistance part is described by a one-meson-exchange model that includes the contributions of vector (ρ, ω) and scalar (σ) mesons. The microscopic quark model incorporates a confining Coulomb potential extracted from lattice QCD simulations and a transverse hyperfine interaction consistent with a finite gluon propagator in the infrared. The derived effective meson-nucleon potential is used in a Lippmann-Schwinger equation to obtain s-wave phase shifts. Our final aim is to set up a theoretical framework that can be extended to finite temperatures and baryon densities. © 2010 American Institute of Physics.

Charmonium and D mesons in hadronic matter

We discuss two aspects of charmonium in medium. First, we present results of a recent study that compares the phenomenology of charmonium spectroscopy using smooth and sudden string breaking potentials. Next, we present results of a study that explores the possibility that J/ψ might be bound in a large nucleus through the excitation of a color singlet intermediate states of D and D* mesons with density masses. © 2010 American Institute of Physics.

Studies of nucleon resonance structure in exclusive meson electroproduction

Studies of the structure of excited baryons are key factors to the N* program at Jefferson Lab (JLab). Within the first year of data taking with the Hall B CLAS12 detector following the 12 GeV upgrade, a dedicated experiment will aim to extract the N* electrocouplings at high photon virtualities Q 2. This experiment will allow exploration of the structure of N* resonances at the highest photon virtualities ever achieved, with a kinematic reach up to Q2 = 12 GeV2. This high-Q 2 reach will make it possible to probe the excited nucleon structures at distance scales ranging from where effective degrees of freedom, such as constituent quarks, are dominant through the transition to where nearly massless bare-quark degrees of freedom are relevant. In this document, we present a detailed description of the physics that can be addressed through N* structure studies in exclusive meson electroproduction. The discussion includes recent advances in reaction theory for extracting N* electrocouplings from meson electroproduction off protons, along with Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD)-based approaches to the theoretical interpretation of these fundamental quantities. This program will afford access to the dynamics of the nonperturbative strong interaction responsible for resonance formation, and will be crucial in understanding the nature of confinement and dynamical chiral symmetry breaking in baryons, and how excited nucleons emerge from QCD. © 2013 World Scientific Publishing Company.

The 125 GeV boson: A composite scalar?

Assuming that the 125 GeV particle observed at the LHC is a composite scalar and responsible for the electroweak gauge symmetry breaking, we consider the possibility that the bound state is generated by a non-Abelian gauge theory with dynamically generated gauge boson masses and a specific chiral symmetry breaking dynamics motivated by confinement. The scalar mass is computed with the use of the Bethe-Salpeter equation and its normalization condition as a function of the SU(N) group and the respective fermionic representation. If the fermions that form the composite state are in the fundamental representation of the SU(N) group, we can generate such a light boson only for one specific number of fermions for each group. We address the uncertainties underlying this result, when considering the strong dynamics in isolation. © 2013 American Physical Society.

Interação nucleon-nucleon devida à troca de três píons e produção de um píon devida à troca de dois píons

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Conseqüências fenomenológicas de um propagador de gluons com massa dinâmica

Pós-graduação em Física - IFT

Quebra da simetria de sabor na interação de mésons charmosos com o núcleon

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Quebra dinâmica da simetria quiral na pseudo eletrodinâmica quântica em (2 + 1) dimensões

No presente trabalho, estudamos a quebra da simetria quiral na pseudo eletrodinâmica quântica em (2+1) dimensões usando o formalismo das equações de Schwinger-Dyson e investigamos as semelhanças deste modelo com a criticalidade encontrada na EDQ₃ e EDQ₄. Usando a aproximação “quenched-rainbow”, mostramos que existe um acoplamento crítico α_cc = π/16, acima do qual existe a geração de massa para os férmions e portanto, ocorrendo a quebra da simetria quiral. Também estudamos o caso com N campos fermiônicos usando a expansão 1/N na aproximação “unquenched-rainbow”, onde obtemos um número crítico N_c abaixo do qual a simetria quiral é quebrada e, para valores acima, a simetria é restaurada. No limite de acoplamento forte (g -- ∞), mostramos que este número crítico é o mesmo encontrado na EDQ₃ na expansão 1/N.

A Comparative Analysis of In-Medium Spectral Functions for N(940) and N (au)(1535) in Real-Time Thermal Field Theory

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Importance of asymptotic freedom for the pseudocritical temperature in magnetized quark matter

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Decay constants of the pion and its excitations in holographic QCD

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)