P. Katsas

Jet production and the inelastic pp cross section at the LHC

We suggest that, if current measurements of inclusive jet production for central rapidities at the LHC are extended to lower transverse momenta, one could define a visible cross section sensitive to the unitarity bound set by the recent determination of the inelastic proton-proton cross section.

Higgs boson as a gluon trigger

In the forthcoming high-luminosity phase at the LHC many of the most interesting measurements for precision QCD studies are hampered by conditions of large pile-up, particularly at not very high transverse momenta. We study observables based on measuring ratios of color-singlet currents via Higgs boson and Drell-Yan production, which may be accessed also at large pile-up, and used for an experimental program on QCD physics of gluon fusion processes in the LHC high-luminosity runs. We present results of Monte Carlo calculations for a few specific examples.

Higgs boson as a gluon trigger: the study of QCD in high pile-up environments

In the forthcoming high-luminosity phase of the LHC many of the most interesting measurements for precision QCD studies are hampered by large pile-up conditions, especially at not very high transverse momenta. However, with the recently discovered Higgs boson, which couples in the heavy top limit directly to gluons, we have access to a novel production process to probe QCD by a colour-singlet current. In this study we compare observables in Higgs boson and DrellYan production and investigate whether measuring ratios or subtractions can yield results that are stable in high pile-up environments, and yet sensitive to (small-pT) QCD physics in gluon fusion processes. We present results of Monte Carlo event generator calculations for a few specific examples.

The strange-quark chemical potential as an experimentally accessible ‘order parameter’ of the deconfinement phase transition for finite baryon density

We consider the change of the strange-quark chemical potential in the phase diagram of nuclear matter, employing the Wilson loop and scalar quark condensate order parameters, mass-scaled partition functions and enforcing flavour conservation. Assuming the region beyond the hadronic phase to be described by massive, correlated and interacting quarks, in the spirit of lattice and effective QCD calculations, we find the strange-quark chemical potential to change sign: from positive in the hadronic phase, to zero upon deconfinement, to negative in the partonic domain. We propose this change in the sign of the strange-quark chemical potential to be an experimentally accessible order parameter and a unique, concise and well-defined indication of the quark-deconfinement phase transition in nuclear matter.

Variation of the strange-quark chemical potential in the phase diagram of nuclear matter

On the basis of lattice calculations, we require the existence of a deconfined quark matter region (0 < as < 1) beyond the hadron gas phase, which goes asymptotically into the ideal quark–gluon plasma domain, in the phase diagram of nuclear matter. We consider empirically the dynamics of this region in terms of the order parameters and mass-scaled partition functions and derive an EoS. Then, the strange-quark chemical potential is expressed in a functional form of the temperature and light-quark chemical potential and its variation throughout the 3-region phase diagram is studied. We propose the change of the sign of the strange-quark chemical potential, from positive in the hadronic region to negative beyond, to be a unique, concise and well-defined indication of the quark-deconfinement phase transition in nuclear matter. Analysis of the nucleus–nucleus collision data from AGS and SPS is presented giving strong support to our proposal.