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Title: Simulation of Z(3) walls and string production via bubble nucleation in a quark-hadron transition

Journal Article · · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields
;  [1]; ;  [2]
  1. Physics Department, Allahabad University, Allahabad 211002 (India)
  2. Institute of Physics, Sachivalaya Marg, Bhubaneswar 751005 (India)

We study the dynamics of confinement-deconfinement phase transition in the context of relativistic heavy-ion collisions within the framework of effective models for the Polyakov loop order parameter. We study the formation of Z(3) walls and associated strings in the initial transition from the confining (hadronic) phase to the deconfining [quark-gluon plasma (QGP)] phase via the so-called Kibble mechanism. Essential physics of the Kibble mechanism is contained in a sort of domain structure arising after any phase transition which represents random variation of the order parameter at distances beyond the typical correlation length. We implement this domain structure by using the Polyakov loop effective model with a first order phase transition and confine ourselves with temperature/time ranges so that the first order confinement-deconfinement transition proceeds via bubble nucleation, leading to a well defined domain structure. The formation of Z(3) walls and associated strings results from the coalescence of QGP bubbles expanding in the confining background. We investigate the evolution of the Z(3) wall and string network. We also calculate the energy density fluctuations associated with Z(3) wall network and strings which decay away after the temperature drops below the quark-hadron transition temperature during the expansion of QGP. We discuss evolution of these quantities with changing temperature via Bjorken's hydrodynamical model and discuss possible experimental signatures resulting from the presence of Z(3) wall network and associate strings.

OSTI ID:
21421380
Journal Information:
Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Vol. 82, Issue 7; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.82.074020; (c) 2010 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0556-2821
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English