J/psi production and elliptic flow in relativistic heavy-ion collisions
Using the two-component model for charmonium production, which includes contributions from both initial hard nucleon-nucleon scattering and from regeneration in the quark-gluon plasma, we study the nuclear modification factor R{sub AA} and elliptic flow v{sub 2} of J/{psi} in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. For the expansion dynamics of produced hot, dense matter, we introduce a schematic fireball model with its transverse acceleration determined from the pressure gradient inside the fireball and azimuthally anisotropic expansion parametrized to reproduce measured v{sub 2} of light hadrons. We assume that light hadrons freeze out at the temperature of 120 MeV while charmonia freeze out at 160 MeV, similar to the kinetic and chemical freeze-out temperatures in the statistical model, respectively. For the properties of charmonia in the quark-gluon plasma, we use the screening mass between their charm and anticharm quarks and their dissociation cross sections given by the perturbative quantum chromodynamical (pQCD) calculations in the leading order and up to the next-to-leading order, respectively. For the relaxation time of charm and anticharm quarks in the quark-gluon plasma, we also use the one calculated in the leading-order pQCD. Modeling the effect of higher-order corrections in pQCD by introducing multiplicative factors to the dissociation cross sections ofmore » charmonia and the elastic scattering cross sections of charm and anticharm quarks, we find that this effect is small for the R{sub AA} of J/{psi} as they suppress the number of initially produced J/{psi} but enhance the number of regenerated ones. The higher-order corrections increase, however, the v{sub 2} of J/{psi}. Our results suggest that the v{sub 2} of J/{psi} can play an important role in discriminating between J/{psi} production from initial hard collisions and from regeneration in the quark-gluon plasma.« less

title: Nuclear constraints on non-Newtonian gravity at femtometer scale
abstract: Effects of the non-Newtonian gravity on properties of finite nuclei are studied by consistently incorporating both the direct and exchange contribution of the Yukawa potential in the Hartree–Fock approach using a well-tested Skyrme force for the strong interaction. It is shown for the first time that the strength of the Yukawa term in the non-Newtonian gravity is limited to log (|α|) < 1.75/[λ(fm)]0.54 + 33.6 within the length scale of λ = 1 − 10 fm in order for the calculated properties of finite nuclei not to be in conflict with accurate experimental data available.

title: Imprints of Nuclear Symmetry Energy on Properties of Neutron Stars
abstract: Significant progress has been made in recent years in constraining the density dependence of nuclear symmetry energy using terrestrial nuclear laboratory data. Around and below the nuclear matter saturation density, the experimental constraints start to merge in a relatively narrow region. At supra-saturation densities, there are, however, still large uncertainties. After summarizing the latest experimental constraints on the density dependence of nuclear symmetry energy, we highlight a few recent studies examining imprints of nuclear symmetry energy on the binding energy, energy release during hadron-quark phase transitions as well as the ω-mode frequency and damping time of gravitational wave emission of neutron stars.

title: Anisotropic flows and dihadron correlations in heavy ion collisions
abstract: Using a multiphase transport model that includes both initial partonic and final hadronic scatterings, we have studied anisotropic flows and dihadron correla tions as functions of pseudorapidity and azimuthal angular differences between trigger and associated particles in heavy ion collisions at LHC. With parameters in the model determined from fitting t he measured multiplicity density of mid-pseudorapidity charged particles in central collis ions and their elliptic flow in mid-central collisions, the calculated higher-order anisotropic flows from the two-particle cumulant method reproduce approximately those measured in experiments. Similar to experimental results, the two-dimensional dihadron correlations at most central collisions show a ridge structure at the near side and a broad structure at the away side. The short- and long-range dihadron azimuthal correlations, corresponding to small and large pseudorapidity differences, respectively, are studied for triggering particles with different transverse mom enta and are found to be qualitatively consistent with experimental results.

title: Locating the inner edge of the neutron star crust using terrestrial nuclear laboratory data
abstract: Within both dynamical and thermodynamical approaches using the equation of state for neutron-rich nuclear matter constrained by the recent isospin diffusion data from heavy-ion reactions in the same subsaturation density range as the neutron star crust, the density and pressure at the inner edge separating the liquid core from the solid crust of neutron stars are determined to be $0.040 {\mathrm{fm}}^{\ensuremath{-}3}\ensuremath{\leqslant}{\ensuremath{\rho}}_{t}\ensuremath{\leqslant}0.065 {\mathrm{fm}}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$ and 0.01 MeV/${\mathrm{fm}}^{3}\ensuremath{\leqslant}{P}_{t}\ensuremath{\leqslant}0.26$ MeV/${\mathrm{fm}}^{3}$, respectively. These together with the observed minimum crustal fraction of the total moment of inertia allow us to set a new limit for the radius of the Vela pulsar significantly different from the previous estimate. It is further shown that the widely used parabolic approximation to the equation of state of asymmetric nuclear matter leads systematically to significantly higher core-crust transition densities and pressures, especially with stiffer symmetry energy functionals.

title: Non-Newtonian gravity in finite nuclei
abstract: In this talk, we report our recent study of constraining the non-Newtonian gravity at femtometer scale. We incorporate the Yukawa-type non-Newtonian gravitational potential consistently to the Skyrme functional form using the exact treatment for the direct contribution and density-matrix expansion method for the exchange contribution. The effects from the non-Newtonian potential on finite nuclei properties are then studied together with a well-tested Skyrme force. Assuming that the framework without non-Newtonian gravity can explain the binding energies and charge radii of medium to heavy nuclei within 2% error, we set an upper limit for the strength of the non-Newtonian gravitational potential at femtometer scale.

title: A Tapered Dielectric Structure for Laser Acceleration at Low Energy
abstract: This paper extends the physics of the Micro-Accelerator Platform (MAP), which is in development as an optical structure for laser acceleration of relativistic electrons. The MAP is a resonant, optical-scale, slab-symmetric device that is fabricated from dielectric materials using layer-deposition techniques. For stand-alone applications, low-energy electrons ( ~ 0.3) must be synchronously accelerated to relativistic speeds for injection into the MAP. Even lower energies are desired for other particle species (e.g. protons or muons). In this paper, we present design and simulation studies on a tapered geometry and associated coupling scheme that can produce synchronous acceleration at < 1 within a MAP-like structure.

title: The tricky azimuthal dependence of jet quenching at RHIC and LHC via CUJET2.0
abstract: High transverse momentum neutral pion and charged hadron suppression pattern with respect to reaction plane at RHIC and LHC energies in central and semi-peripheral AA collisions are studied in a perturbative QCD based model, CUJET2.0. CUJET2.0 has dynamical DGLV radiation kernel and Thoma–Gyulassy elastic energy loss, with both being generalized to including multi-scale running strong coupling as well as energy loss probability fluctuations, and the full jet path integration is performed in a low p T flow data constrained medium which has 2+1D viscous hydrodynamical expanding profile. We find that in CUJET2.0, with only one control parameter, α max , the maximum coupling strength, fixed to be 0.26, the computed nuclear modification factor R AA in central and semi-peripheral AA collisions are consistent with RHIC and LHC data at average χ 2 / d.o.f. 1.5 level. Simultaneous agreements with high p T azimuthal anisotropy v 2 data are acquired given average α max over in-plane and out-of-plane paths varying as little as 10%, suggesting a non-trivial dependence of the high p T single particle v 2 on the azimuthally varied strong coupling.

title: Extracting the jet transport coefficient from jet quenching in high-energy heavy-ion collisions
abstract: Within five different approaches to parton propagation and energy loss in dense matter, a phenomenological study of experimental data on suppression of large $p_T$ single inclusive hadrons in heavy-ion collisions at both RHIC and LHC was carried out. The evolution of bulk medium used in the study for parton propagation was given by 2+1D or 3+1D hydrodynamic models which are also constrained by experimental data on bulk hadron spectra. Values for the jet transport parameter $\hat q$ at the center of the most central heavy-ion collisions are extracted or calculated within each model, with parameters for the medium properties that are constrained by experimental data on the hadron suppression factor $R_{AA}$. For a quark with initial energy of 10 GeV we find that $\hat q\approx 1.2 \pm 0.3$ GeV$^2$/fm at an initial time $\tau_0=0.6$ fm/$c$ in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s}=200$ GeV/n and $\hat q\approx 1.9 \pm 0.7 $ GeV$^2$/fm in Pb+Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s}=2.76 $ TeV/n. Compared to earlier studies, these represent significant convergence on values of the extracted jet transport parameter, reflecting recent advances in theory and the availability of new experiment data from the LHC.

title: Kinematics and chemistry of the hot core in G20.08–0.14N
abstract: We present Submillimeter Array observations of the massive star-forming region G20.08-0.14N at 335 and 345 GHz. With the SMA data, 41 molecular transitions were detected related to 11 molecular species and their isotopologues, including SO2, SO, C34S, NS, C17O, SiO, CH3OH, HC3N, H13CO+, HCOOCH3 and NH2CHO. In G20.08-0.14N, 10 transition lines of the detected 41 transition lines belong to SO2, which dominates the appearance of the submillimeter-wave spectrum. To obtain the spatial kinematic distribution of molecules in G20.08-0.14N, we chose the strongest and unblended lines for the channel maps. The channel maps of C34S an SiO, together with their position-velocity diagrams, present that there are two accretion flows in G20.08-0.14N. Additionally, SiO emission shows a collimated outflow at the NE-SW direction. The direction of the outflow is for the first time revealed. The rotational temperature and the column density of CH3OH are 105 K and 3.1*10^{17} cm^{-2}, respectively. Our results confirm that a hot core is associated with G20.08-0.14N. The hot core is heated by a protostar radiation at it center, not by the external excitation from shocks. The images of the spatial distribution of different species have shown that the different molecules are located at the different positions of the hot core. Through comparing the spatial distributions and abundances of the molecules, we discuss possible chemical processes for producing the complex sulfur-bearing, nitrogen-bearing and oxygen-bearing molecules in G20.08-0.14N.

title: Submillimeter / millimeter observations of the molecular clouds associated with Tycho’s supernova remnant
abstract: We have carried out CO J = 2 - 1 and CO J = 3 - 2 observations toward Tycho's supernova remnant (SNR) using the KOSMA 3m-telescope. From these observations, we identified three molecular clouds (MCs) around the SNR. The small cloud in the southwest was discovered for the first time. In the north and east, two MCs (Cloud A and Cloud B) adjacent in space display a bow-shaped morphology, and have broad emission lines, which provide some direct evidences of the SNR-MCs interaction. The MCs are revealed at -69~ -59 km s -1 , coincident with Tycho's SNR. The MCs associated with Tycho's SNR have a mass of ~ 2.13 × 10 3 M ⊙ . Position-velocity diagrams show the two clouds to be adjacent in velocity, which means cloud-cloud collision could occur in this region. The maximum value (0.66 ± 0.10) of the integrated CO line intensity ratio (I CO J =3-2 /I CO J =2-1 ) for the three MCs agrees well with the previous measurement of individual Galactic MCs, implying that the SNR shock drove into the MCs. The two MCs have a line intensity ratio gradient. The distribution of the ratio appears to indicate that the shock propagates from the southwest to the northeast.