The creation of loosely bound objects in heavy ion collisions, e.g. light clusters, near the phase transition temperature $\left(T_{\rm ch} \approx 155 \, \rm{MeV} \right)$ has been a puzzling observation that seems to be at odds with Big Bang nucleosynthesis suggesting that deuterons and other clusters are formed only below a temperature $T\approx 0.1-1 \, \text{MeV}$. We solve this puzzle by showing that the light cluster abundancies in heavy ion reactions stay approximately constant from chemical freeze-out to kinetic freeze-out. To this aim we develop an extensive network of coupled reaction rate equations including stable hadrons and hadronic resonances to describe the temporal evolution of the abundancies of light (anti-)(hyper-)nuclei in the late hadronic environment of an ultrarelativistic heavy ion collision. It is demonstrated that the chemical equilibration of the light nuclei occurs on a very short timescale as a consequence of the strong production and dissociation processes. However, because of the partial chemical equilibrium of the stable hadrons, including the nucleon feeding from $Δ$ resonances, the abundancies of the light nuclei stay nearly constant during the evolution and cooling of the hadronic phase. This solves the longstanding contradiction between the thermal fits and the late stage coalescence (and the Big Bang nucleosynthesis) and explains why the observed light cluster yields are compatible with both a high chemical production temperature and a late state emission as modelled by coalescence. We also note in passing that the abundancies of the light clusters in the present approach are in excellent agreement with those measured by ALICE at LHC.
We sketch some recent ideas proposed as the mechanism behind the puzzling experimental results on baryon-antibaryon production in e+e- annihilation close to threshold. The essential new point in the proposed mechanism is that it is a two-stage process, with a coherent state of pions serving as an intermediary between e+e- and the baryon-antibaryon system. Skyrmion-antiskyrmion annihilation is proposed as a concrete computational framework for a quantitative description of the baryon-antibaryon annihilation. We also point out the possible connection to similarly puzzling data on baryon-antibary…
We argue that the observed antiproton production in heavy-ion collisions at CERN-SpS energies can be understood if (contrary to most sequential scattering approaches) the backward direction in the process $p\bar p \leftrightarrow \bar{n}π$ (with $\bar{n}$=5-6) is consistently accounted for within a thermal framework. Employing the standard picture of subsequent chemical and thermal freezeout, which induces an over-saturation of pion number with associated chemical potentials of $μ_π\simeq$~60-80 MeV, enhances the backward reaction substantially. The resulting rates and corresponding cross sect…
An incomparable feature of the chiral quark soliton model as compared with many other effective models like the MIT bag model is that it can give reasonable predictions not only for quark distributions but also for antiquark distributions. This will be exemplified by the argument on the positivity constraint for $\bar{u} (x) + \bar{d} (x)$ as well as the Soffer inequality for quark and antiquark distributions. We also explain how the model can resolve the so-called nucleon spin puzzle without assuming large gluon polarization at the low energy scale.
Assuming that CPT is violated in the neutrino sector seems to be a viable alternative to sterile neutrinos when it comes to reconciling the LSND anomaly with the remainder of the neutrino data. There are different (distinguishable) ways of incorporating CPT violation into the standard model, including postulating m different from \bar{m}. Here, I investigate the possibility of introducing CPT violation via Lorentz-invariance violating effective operators (``Ether'' potentials) which modify neutrino oscillation patterns like ordinary matter effects. I argue that, within a simplified two-flavor …
Recent measurements have established the sensitivity of ultracentral heavy-ion collisions to the deformation parameters of non-spherical nuclei. In the case of ${}^{ 129}$Xe collisions, a quadrupole deformation of the nuclear profile led to an enhancement of elliptic flow in the most central collisions. In ${}^{ 208}$Pb collisions a discrepancy exists in similar centralities, where either elliptic flow is over-predicted or triangular flow is under-predicted by hydrodynamic models; this is known as the $v_2$-to-$v_3$ puzzle in ultracentral collisions. Motivated by low-energy nuclear structure c…
The evolution of (non-strange) antibaryon abundances in the hadronic phase of central heavy-ion collisions is studied within a thermal equilibrium framework, based on the well-established picture of subsequent chemical and thermal freezeout. Due to large annihilation cross sections, antiprotons are, a priori, not expected to comply with this scheme. However, we show that a significant regeneration of their abundance occurs upon inclusion of the inverse reaction of multipion fusion, $n_ππ\to p\bar p$ (with $n_π$=5-6), necessary to ensure detailed balance. Especially at SPS energies, the build-u…
We study the importance of the initial state, baryon stopping and baryon number transport for the dynamical evolution of a strongly interacting system produced in heavy ion collisions. We employ a hybrid model, which combines the fluid dynamical evolution of the fireball with a transport treatment for the initial state and the final hadronic phase. We present results for collisions at beam energies from sqrt{s_{NN}}=7.7 to 200 GeV. We study various observables such as the centrality dependent freeze out parameters, the non-monotonic behavior of effective slope parameter parameter with particle…
Based on a newly proposed mirror-matter model of neutron-mirror neutron ($n-n'$) oscillations, the puzzles related to ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) are explained. In particular, the phenomena around the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin (GZK) cutoff for UHECRs can be well understood under the new mirror matter model assuming a mirror-to-ordinary temperature ratio of $T'/T \sim 0.3$. The suppression factor of the GZK effect due to the opacity of cosmic microwave background is calculated and agrees with the observations well. Most of the super-GZK events (i.e., above the GZK cutoff), as predicted …
In this talk I first briefly explain the puzzle presented by the high muon content observed in air-showers which point to the ultra high-energy $γ$ sources like the HER-X-1. Since it had been suggested that a possible explanation of the puzzle might come from the effects of the hadronic structure of the photon, I briefly explain the concept of photon structure function and comment on the uncertainties in the predictions of the \sigtot. Then I show that while the current experiments at the \eplem\ (TRISTAN and LEP) and $ep$ (HERA) colliders have seen clear evidence for the hadronic structure of…
We show that the measured yield ratio $^3_Λ$H/$^3$He ($^3_{\overlineΛ}\overline{\text{H}}$/$^3\overline{\text{He}}$) in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV and in Pb+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=2.76$ TeV can be understood within a covariant coalescence model if (anti-)$Λ$ particles freeze out earlier than (anti-)nucleons but their relative freezeout time is closer at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=2.76$ TeV than at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=200$ GeV. The earlier (anti-)$Λ$ freezeout can significantly enhance the yield of (anti)hypernucleus $^4_Λ$H ($^4_{\overlineΛ}\overline{\text{H}}$), leading to that $^4_{…
I describe supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model with light sgoldstinos and discuss the explanation of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays above GZK cutoff in these models. Also I briefly discuss the possibility to solve other cosmological and astrophysical puzzles, such as gamma-ray bursts and dimming of high-redshift supernovae, within the models with light sgoldstinos.
Two processes of matter creation after inflation: 1) gravitational creation of superheavy (quasi)stable particles, and 2) non-thermal phase transitions leading to formation of topological defects, may be relevant to the resolution of the puzzle of cosmic rays observed with energies beyond GZK cut-off. Both possibilities are reviewed in this talk.
The status of solutions to the ultra-high energy cosmic ray puzzle that involve particle physics beyond the standard model is reviewed. Signatures and experimental constraints are discussed for most proposals like the Z burst model and topological defects (both allowed only as subdominant contribution), supermassive dark matter (no positive evidence from its key signatures galactic anisotropy and photon dominance), strongly interacting neutrinos or new primaries (no viable models known), and violation of Lorentz invariance (possible).
Primordial Heavy neutrinos of 4th generation might explain different astrophysical puzzles: indeed the simplest 4th neutrino scenario may be still consistent with known 4th neutrino physics, cosmic ray anti-matter and gamma fluxes and signals in underground detectors for a very narrow neutrino mass windows (46-47 GeV). We have analyzed extended Heavy neutrino models related to the clumpiness of neutrino density, new interactions in Heavy neutrino annihilation, neutrino asymmetry, neutrino decay. We found that in these models the underground signals maybe better combined with the cosmic ray imp…
Both charged hadrons and D mesons are considered to be excellent probes of QCD matter created in ultra relativistic heavy ion collisions. Surprisingly, recent experimental observations at LHC show the same jet suppression for these two probes, which - contrary to pQCD expectations - may suggest similar energy losses for light quarks and gluons in QCD medium. We here use our recently developed energy loss formalism in a finite size dynamical QCD medium to analyze this phenomenon that we denote as the "heavy flavor puzzle at LHC". We show that this puzzle is a consequence of an unusual combinati…
There are two processes of matter creation after inflation that may be relevant to the resolution of the puzzle of cosmic rays observed with energies beyond GZK cut-off: 1) gravitational creation of superheavy (quasi)stable particles, and 2) non-thermal phase transitions leading to formation of topological defects. We review both possibilities.
The abundances of anti-protons and protons are considered within momentum-integrated Boltzmann equations describing Little Bangs, i.e., fireballs created in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Despite of a large anti-proton annihilation cross section we find a small drop of the ratio of anti-protons to protons from 170 MeV (chemical freeze-out temperature) till 100 MeV (kinetic freeze-out temperature) for CERN-SPS and BNL-RHIC energies thus corroborating the solution of the previously exposed "ani-proton puzzle". In contrast, the Big Bang evolves so slowly that the anti-baryons are kept for a l…
Recent STAR data for the directed flow of protons, antiprotons, and charged pions obtained within the beam energy scan program are analyzed within the parton-hadron-string-dynamics (PHSD and HSD) transport models and a 3-fluid hydrodynamics (3FD) approach. Both versions of the kinetic approach, HSD and PHSD, are used to clarify the role of partonic degrees of freedom. The PHSD results, simulating a partonic phase and its coexistence with a hadronic one, are roughly consistent with data. The hydrodynamic results are obtained for two equations of state (EoS), a pure hadronic EoS and an EoS with …
On the analogy with the Lamb shift, we study the vacuum effect that proton's electric field interacts with virtual particles in the vacuum. We find a possible quantum instability that triggered by an external force, proton's electric field interacting with virtual particles spontaneously induces a quantum force that back reacts on the proton in the direction of the external trigger force. Such a quantum-induced force accelerates the proton runaway, by gaining the zero-point energy from the vacuum (~10^{-5} eV/cm). This effect possibly accounts for the mysterious origin and spectrum of ultra hi…
Quantum field theory near thresholds of ultra-heavy particles is considered. We focus especially on the top-antitop and the stop-antistop systems. The question of the possible large corrections due to a running width of the top quark could be solved in this work. It was shown that a previously not considered contribution gives rise to large cancellations and leads especially to a gauge independent result. With the help of a new zero order equation and a Ward identity it was further possible to derive a general therorem for bound state corrections to the width. Furthermore a systematic derivati…
The potential of B-physics in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions is discussed. The different mechanisms of heavy quark production at high energies are considered. We analyze the sensitivity of high-mass mu+mu- pairs from BBbar semileptonic decays and secondary J/Psi's from single B decays to the medium-induced bottom quark energy loss at LHC energies.
Suppressions of light and heavy flavor observables are considered to be excellent probes of QCD matter created in ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions. Suppression predictions of quark and gluon jets appear to suggest a clear hierarchy according to which neutral pions should be more suppressed than D mesons, which in turn should be more suppressed than single electrons. However, joint comparison of neutral pion (light probe) and non-photonic single electron (heavy probe) suppression data at RHIC unexpectedly showed similar jet suppression for these two probes, which presents the well-known …
The recently developed hadron resonance gas model with multicomponent hard-core repulsion is used to address and resolve the long standing problem to describe the light nuclear cluster multiplicities including the hyper-triton measured by the STAR Collaboration, known as the hyper-triton chemical freeze-out puzzle. An unprecedentedly accurate description is obtained for the hadronic and other light nuclear cluster data measured by STAR at the collision energy $\sqrt{s_{NN}} =200$ GeV and by ALICE at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} =2.76$ TeV. This success is achieved by applying the new strategy of analyzing t…
We present a summary of the recent results obtained with the novel hadron resonance gas model with the multicomponent hard-core repulsion which is extended to describe the mixtures of hadrons and light (anti-, hyper-)nuclei. A very accurate description is obtained for the hadronic and the light nuclei data measured by STAR at the collision energy $\sqrt{s_{NN}} =200$ GeV and by ALICE at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} =2.76$ TeV. The most striking result discussed here is that for the most probable chemical freeze-out scenario for the STAR energy the found parameters allow us to reproduce the values of the exp…
One of the striking features of particle production at high beam energies is the near equal abundance of matter and antimatter in the central rapidity region. In this paper we study how this symmetry is reached as the beam energy is increased. In particular, we quantify explicitly the energy dependence of the approach to matter/antimatter symmetry in proton-proton and in heavy-ion collisions. Expectations are presented also for the production of more complex forms of antimatter like antihypernuclei.
Heavy-flavored hadrons are unique probes to study the properties of hot and dense QCD medium produced in ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions at RHIC and the LHC. Transverse spherocity is one of the event-topology variables used to separate jetty and isotropic events from the pool of event samples. This study aims to understand the production dynamics of heavy-flavors through the transverse momentum spectra, double differential yield and mean transverse momentum of J/$ψ$, $\rm D^{0}$ and $Λ_{c}^{+}$ as a function of charged-particle multiplicity and transverse spherocity. Further to investi…
