Dilepton Production from Moaton Quasiparticles
The phase diagram of QCD probably exhibits a moat regime over a large region of temperature T and chemical potential μ≠0. A moat regime is characterized by quasiparticle moatons (pions) whose energy is minimal at nonzero spatial momentum. At μ≠0, higher mass dimension operators play a critical role in a moat regime. At dimension six, there are nine possible gauge-invariant couplings between scalars and photons. For back-to-back dilepton production, only one operator contributes, which significantly enhances production near a moat threshold. This enhancement is an experimental signature of moatons.
Authors
- Stella T. Schindler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3224-4627)
- Fabian Rennecke (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1448-677X)
- Laurin Pannullo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4808-5819)
- Robert D. Pisarski (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7862-4759)
- Michael C. Ogilvie (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3586-5237)
- Marc Winstel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3470-9926)
- Zohar Nussinov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7947-7829)
Institutions
- Goethe University Frankfurt (DE)
- Goethe-Institute United Kingdom (GB)
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (US)
- Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen (DE)
- Brookhaven National Laboratory (US)
- Bielefeld University (DE)
- Washington University in St. Louis (US)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical Review Letters
- Published
- 2025-09-04
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/1f8w-p4m4
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.74
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Strong
- Helmholtz Graduate School for Hadron and Ion Research
- Leverhulme Trust
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Office of Science
- National Nuclear Security Administration
- Nuclear Physics
- Laboratory Directed Research and Development
- Los Alamos National Laboratory