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QCD String
In quantum chromodynamics (QCD), color confinement, often simply called confinement, is the phenomenon that color-charged particles (such as quarks and gluons) cannot be isolated, and therefore cannot be directly observed in normal conditions below the Hagedorn temperature of approximately 2 terakelvin (corresponding to energies of approximately 130–140 M eV per particle). Quarks and gluons must clump together to form hadrons. The two main types of hadron are the mesons (one quark, one antiquark) and the baryons (three quarks). In addition, colorless glueballs formed only of gluons are also consistent with confinement, though difficult to identify experimentally. Quarks and gluons cannot be separated from their parent hadron without producing new hadrons. Origin There is not yet an analytic proof of color confinement in any non-abelian gauge theory. The phenomenon can be understood qualitatively by noting that the force-carrying gluons of QCD have color charge, unlike t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Non-abelian Gauge Theory
In physics, a gauge theory is a type of field theory in which the Lagrangian, and hence the dynamics of the system itself, does not change under local transformations according to certain smooth families of operations (Lie groups). Formally, the Lagrangian is invariant under these transformations. The term "gauge" refers to any specific mathematical formalism to regulate redundant degrees of freedom in the Lagrangian of a physical system. The transformations between possible gauges, called gauge transformations, form a Lie group—referred to as the ''symmetry group'' or the gauge group of the theory. Associated with any Lie group is the Lie algebra of group generators. For each group generator there necessarily arises a corresponding field (usually a vector field) called the gauge field. Gauge fields are included in the Lagrangian to ensure its invariance under the local group transformations (called gauge invariance). When such a theory is quantized, the quanta of the g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polyakov Loop
In quantum field theory, the Polyakov loop is the thermal analogue of the Wilson loop, acting as an order parameter for confinement in pure gauge theories at nonzero temperatures. In particular, it is a Wilson loop that winds around the compactified Euclidean temporal direction of a thermal quantum field theory. It indicates confinement because its vacuum expectation value must vanish in the confined phase due to its non-invariance under center gauge transformations. This also follows from the fact that the expectation value is related to the free energy of individual quarks, which diverges in this phase. Introduced by Alexander M. Polyakov in 1975, they can also be used to study the potential between pairs of quarks at nonzero temperatures. Definition Thermal quantum field theory is formulated in Euclidean spacetime with a compactified imaginary temporal direction of length \beta. This length corresponds to the inverse temperature of the field \beta \propto 1/T. Compacti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Order Operator
In quantum field theory, an order operator or an order field is a quantum field version of Landau's order parameter whose expectation value characterizes phase transitions. There exists a dual version of it, the disorder operator or disorder field, whose expectation value characterizes a phase transition by indicating the prolific presence of defect or vortex lines in an ordered phase. The disorder operator is an operator that creates a discontinuity of the ordinary order operators or a monodromy for their values. For example, a 't Hooft operator is a disorder operator. So is the Jordan–Wigner transformation. The concept of a disorder observable was first introduced in the context of 2D Ising spin lattices, where a phase transition between spin-aligned ( magnetized) and disordered phases happens at some temperature.Fradkin, E. J Stat Phys (2017) 167: 427. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10955-017-1737-7 See also * Operator (physics) An operator is a function over a space of ph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spacetime
In physics, spacetime, also called the space-time continuum, is a mathematical model that fuses the three dimensions of space and the one dimension of time into a single four-dimensional continuum. Spacetime diagrams are useful in visualizing and understanding relativistic effects, such as how different observers perceive ''where'' and ''when'' events occur. Until the turn of the 20th century, the assumption had been that the three-dimensional geometry of the universe (its description in terms of locations, shapes, distances, and directions) was distinct from time (the measurement of when events occur within the universe). However, space and time took on new meanings with the Lorentz transformation and special theory of relativity. In 1908, Hermann Minkowski presented a geometric interpretation of special relativity that fused time and the three spatial dimensions into a single four-dimensional continuum now known as Minkowski space. This interpretation proved vital t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wilson Loop
In quantum field theory, Wilson loops are gauge invariant operators arising from the parallel transport of gauge variables around closed loops. They encode all gauge information of the theory, allowing for the construction of loop representations which fully describe gauge theories in terms of these loops. In pure gauge theory they play the role of order operators for confinement, where they satisfy what is known as the area law. Originally formulated by Kenneth G. Wilson in 1974, they were used to construct links and plaquettes which are the fundamental parameters in lattice gauge theory. Wilson loops fall into the broader class of loop operators, with some other notable examples being 't Hooft loops, which are magnetic duals to Wilson loops, and Polyakov loops, which are the thermal version of Wilson loops. Definition To properly define Wilson loops in gauge theory requires considering the fiber bundle formulation of gauge theories. Here for each point in the d-dim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Action (physics)
In physics, action is a scalar quantity that describes how the balance of kinetic versus potential energy of a physical system changes with trajectory. Action is significant because it is an input to the principle of stationary action, an approach to classical mechanics that is simpler for multiple objects. Action and the variational principle are used in Feynman's formulation of quantum mechanics and in general relativity. For systems with small values of action close to the Planck constant, quantum effects are significant. In the simple case of a single particle moving with a constant velocity (thereby undergoing uniform linear motion), the action is the momentum of the particle times the distance it moves, added up along its path; equivalently, action is the difference between the particle's kinetic energy and its potential energy, times the duration for which it has that amount of energy. More formally, action is a mathematical functional which takes the trajectory ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hadronization
Hadronization (or hadronisation) is the process of the formation of hadrons out of quarks and gluons. There are two main branches of hadronization: quark-gluon plasma (QGP) transformation and colour string decay into hadrons. The transformation of quark-gluon plasma into hadrons is studied in lattice QCD numerical simulations, which are explored in relativistic heavy-ion experiments. Quark-gluon plasma hadronization occurred shortly after the Big Bang when the quark–gluon plasma cooled down to the Hagedorn temperature (about 150 MeV) when free quarks and gluons cannot exist. In string breaking new hadrons are forming out of quarks, antiquarks and sometimes gluons, spontaneously created from the vacuum. Statistical hadronization A highly successful description of QGP hadronization is based on statistical phase space weighting according to the Fermi–Pomeranchuk model of particle production. This approach was developed, since 1950, initially as a qualitative description ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jet (particle Physics)
A jet is a narrow cone of hadrons and other particles produced by the hadronization of quarks and gluons in a particle physics or heavy ion experiment. Particles carrying a color charge, i.e. quarks and gluons, cannot exist in free form because of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) confinement which only allows for colorless states. When protons collide at high energies, their color charged components each carry away some of the color charge. In accordance with confinement, these fragments create other colored objects around them to form colorless hadrons. The ensemble of these objects is called a jet, since the fragments all tend to travel in the same direction, forming a narrow "jet" of particles. Jets are measured in particle detectors and studied in order to determine the properties of the original quarks. A jet definition includes a jet algorithm and a recombination scheme. The former defines how some inputs, e.g. particles or detector objects, are grouped into jets, while the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pair Production
Pair production is the creation of a subatomic particle and its antiparticle from a neutral boson. Examples include creating an electron and a positron, a muon and an antimuon, or a proton and an antiproton. Pair production often refers specifically to a photon creating an electron–positron pair near a nucleus. As energy must be conserved, for pair production to occur, the incoming energy of the photon must be above a threshold of at least the total rest mass energy of the two particles created. (As the electron is the lightest, hence, lowest mass/energy, elementary particle, it requires the least energetic photons of all possible pair-production processes.) Conservation of energy and momentum are the principal constraints on the process. All other conserved quantum numbers ( angular momentum, electric charge, lepton number) of the produced particles must sum to zero thus the created particles shall have opposite values of each other. For instance, if one partic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lecture Notes In Physics
''Lecture Notes in Physics'' (LNP) is a book series published by Springer Science+Business Media in the field of physics, including articles related to both research and teaching. It was established in 1969. See also * ''Lecture Notes in Computer Science ''Lecture Notes in Computer Science'' is a series of computer science books published by Springer Science+Business Media since 1973. Overview The series contains proceedings, post-proceedings, monographs, and Festschrifts. In addition, tutorials ...'' * '' Lecture Notes in Mathematics'' External links * Publications established in 1969 Physics books Book series Springer Science+Business Media books Books of lectures {{physics-book-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gluon Field
In theoretical particle physics, the gluon field is a four-vector field characterizing the propagation of gluons in the strong interaction between quarks. It plays the same role in quantum chromodynamics as the electromagnetic four-potential in quantum electrodynamics the gluon field constructs the gluon field strength tensor. Throughout this article, Latin indices take values 1, 2, ..., 8 for the eight gluon color charges, while Greek indices take values 0 for timelike components and 1, 2, 3 for spacelike components of four-dimensional vectors and tensors in spacetime. Throughout all equations, the summation convention is used on all color and tensor indices, unless explicitly stated otherwise. Introduction Gluons can have eight colour charges so there are eight fields, in contrast to photons which are neutral and so there is only one photon field. The gluon fields for each color charge each have a "timelike" component analogous to the electric potential, and three "spacelik ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
