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Phase transitions in the early universe. Cosmological phase transition…. …when the universe cools below 175 MeV 10 -5 seconds after the big bang. Quarks and gluons form baryons and mesons before: simply not enough volume per particle available. Heavy ion collision.
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Cosmological phase transition… …when the universe cools below 175 MeV 10-5 seconds after the big bang Quarks and gluons form baryons and mesons before: simply not enough volume per particle available
Heavy ion collision Seen in experiment ? Phase transition ?
Cosmological relics ? • Only if transition is first order • Out of equilibrium physics is crucial • Otherwise : the universe forgets detailed initial conditions after phase transition • In thermal equilibrium only a few quantities like temperature T or chemical potential μ determine the state
Cosmological phase transitions • QCD phase transition T=175 MeV • Electroweak phase transition T=150 GeV baryogenesis? • GUT phase transition(s) ? T=1016 GeV monopoles,cosmic strings ? • “inflation” T=1015 GeV primordial density fluctuations ! primordial magnetic fields ?
Order of the phase transition is crucial ingredient for cosmological phase transition and experiments ( heavy ion collisions )
Order ofthephasetransition temperature dependence of order parameter
Electroweak phase transition ? • 10-12 s after big bang • fermions and W-,Z-bosons get mass • standard model : crossover • baryogenesis if first order ( only for some SUSY – models ) bubble formation of “ our vacuum “ Reuter,Wetterich ‘93 Kuzmin,Rubakov,Shaposhnikov ‘85 , Shaposhnikov ‘87
Electroweak phase diagram M.Reuter,C.Wetterich Nucl.Phys.B408,91(1993)
Masses of excitations (d=3) small MH large MH O.Philipsen,M.Teper,H.Wittig ‘97
Higgs phase and confinement can be equivalent – then simply two different descriptions (pictures) of the same physical situation Is this realized for QCD ? Necessary condition : spectrum of excitations with the same quantum numbers in both pictures - known for QCD : mesons + baryons -
QCD at high temperature • Quark – gluon plasma • Chiral symmetry restored • “Deconfinement” ( no linear heavy quark potential at large distances ) • Lattice simulations : both effects happen at the same temperature
Chiral symmetry restoration at high temperature Low T SSB <φ>=φ0 ≠ 0 High T SYM <φ>=0 at high T : less order more symmetry examples: magnets, crystals
Quark –gluon plasma Gluons : 8 x 2 = 16 Quarks : 9 x 7/2 =12.5 Dof : 28.5 Chiral symmetry Hadron gas Light mesons : 8 (pions : 3 ) Dof : 8 Chiral sym. broken QCD – phase transition Large difference in number of degrees of freedom ! Strong increase of density and energy density at Tc !
Phase diagram for ms > mu,d quark-gluon plasma “deconfinement” quark matter : superfluid B spontaneously broken vacuum nuclear matter : B,isospin (I3) spontaneously broken, S conserved
Order parameters • Nuclear matter and quark matter are separated from other phases by true critical lines • Different realizations of global symmetries • Quark matter: SSB of baryon number B • Nuclear matter: SSB of combination of B and isospin I3 neutron-neutron condensate
Phase diagram for ms > mu,d quark-gluon plasma “deconfinement” quark matter : superfluid B spontaneously broken vacuum nuclear matter : B,isospin (I3) spontaneously broken, S conserved
Methods • Lattice :You have to wait until chiral limit is properly implemented ! • Models :Quark meson models cannot work Higgs picture of QCD ? • Experiment :Has Tc been measured ? Indications for first order transition !
Lattice results e.g. Karsch,Laermann,Peikert Critical temperature in chiral limit : Nf = 3 : Tc = ( 154 ± 8 ) MeV Nf = 2 : Tc = ( 173 ± 8 ) MeV Chiral symmetry restoration and deconfinement at same Tc
realistic QCD • precise lattice results not yet available for first order transition vs. crossover • also uncertainties in determination of critical temperature ( chiral limit …) • extension to nonvanishing baryon number only for QCD with relatively heavy quarks
Analytical description of phase transition • Needs model that can account simultaneously for the correct degrees of freedom below and above the transition temperature. • Partial aspects can be described by more limited models, e.g. chiral properties at small momenta.
Universe cools below 175 MeV… Both gluons and quarks disappear from thermal equilibrium : mass generation Chiral symmetry breaking mass for fermions Gluons ? Analogous situation in electroweak phase transition understood by Higgs mechanism Higgs description of QCD vacuum ?
Higgs phase and confinement can be equivalent – then simply two different descriptions (pictures) of the same physical situation Is this realized for QCD ? Necessary condition : spectrum of excitations with the same quantum numbers in both pictures Higgs picture with mesons,baryons as excitations?
Higgs picture of QCD “spontaneous breaking of color “ in the QCD – vacuum octet condensate for Nf = 3 ( u,d,s ) C.Wetterich, Phys.Rev.D64,036003(2001),hep-ph/0008150
Octet condensate < octet > ≠ 0 : • “Spontaneous breaking of color” • Higgs mechanism • Massive Gluons – all masses equal • Eight octets have vev • Infrared regulator for QCD
Flavor symmetry for equal quark masses : octet preserves global SU(3)-symmetry “diagonal in color and flavor” “color-flavor-locking” (cf. Alford,Rajagopal,Wilczek ; Schaefer,Wilczek) All particles fall into representations of the “eightfold way” quarks : 8 + 1 , gluons : 8
Quarks and gluons carry the observed quantum numbers of isospin and strangenessof the baryon and vector meson octets !They are integer charged!
…accounts for masses and couplings of light pseudoscalars, vector-mesons and baryons !
5 undetermined parameters predictions Phenomenological parameters
Chiral perturbation theory + all predictions of chiral perturbation theory + determination of parameters
Chiral phase transition at high temperature High temperature phase transition in QCD : Melting of octet condensate Lattice simulations : Deconfinement temperature = critical temperature for restoration of chiral symmetry Why ?
Higgs picture of the QCD-phase transition A simple mean field calculation gives roughly reasonable description that should be improved. Tc =170 MeV First order transition
Has the critical temperature of the QCD phase transition been measured ?
Chemical freeze-out temperature Tch =176 MeV hadron abundancies
Exclusion argument hadronic phase with sufficient production of Ω : excluded !!