Search

We investigate full QCD with (2+1)-flavour of HISQ fermions at the physical point in the presence of uniform Abelian chromomagnetic background fields. Our focus is on the renormalized light and strange chiral condensate around the pseudo-critical temperature. We find that in the confined region the gauge system is subjected to the chromomagnetic catalysis that turns into the inverse catalysis in the high-temperature regime. We further observe that the chiral condensates are subjected to the so-called thermal hysteresis. Our estimate of the deconfinement temperature indicates that the critical temperature begins to decrease in the small field region, soon after it seems to saturate and finally increase with the strength of the chromomagnetic field., Comment: 28 pages, 9 figures, 3 tables

An attempt is made to describe from first principles the large-scale structure of the confining vacuum in quantum chromodynamics. Starting from our previous variational studies of the SU(2) pure gauge theory in an external Abelian chromomagnetic field and extending the Feynman's qualitative analysis in (2+1)-dimensional SU(2) gauge theory, we show that the SU(3) vacuum in three-space and one-time dimensions behaves like a disordered chromomagnetic condensate. Color confinement is assured by the presence of a mass gap together with the absence of color long-range correlations. We offer a clear physical picture for the formation of the flux tube between static quark charges that allowed to determine the color structure and the transverse profile of the flux-tube chromoelectric field. The transverse profile of the flux-tube chromoelectric field turns out to be in reasonable agreement with lattice data. We, also, show that our quantum vacuum allows for both the color and ordinary Meissner effect. We find that for massless quarks the quantum vacuum could accommodate a finite non-zero density of fermion zero modes leading to the dynamical breaking of the chiral symmetry., Comment: 62 pages, 8 figures, revised version accepted for publication on Universe

The triviality of four-dimensional scalar quantum field theories poses challenging problems to the usually adopted perturbative implementation of the Higgs mechanism. In the first part of the paper we compare the triviality scenario and the renormalised two-loop perturbation theory to precise and extensive results from non-perturbative numerical simulations of the real scalar field theory on the lattice. The proposal of triviality and spontaneous symmetry breaking turns out to be in good agreement with numerical simulations, while the renormalised perturbative approach seems to suffer significant deviations from the numerical simulation results. In the second part of the paper we try to illustrate how the triviality of four-dimensional scalar field theory leads, nevertheless, to the spontaneous symmetry breaking in the scalar sector of the Standard Model. We show how triviality allows us to develop a physical picture of the Higgs mechanism in the Standard Model. We suggest that the Higgs condensate behave like a relativistic quantum liquid leading to the prevision of two Higgs bosons. The light Higgs boson resembles closely the new LHC narrow resonance at 125 GeV. The heavy Higgs boson is a rather broad resonance with mass of about 730 GeV. We critically compare our proposal to the complete LHC Run 2 data collected by the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations. We do not find convincingly evidences of the heavy Higgs boson in the ATLAS datasets. On the other hand, the CMS full Run 2 data display evidences of a heavy Higgs boson in the main decay modes $H \rightarrow WW$, while in the preliminary Run 2 data there are hints of the decays $H \rightarrow ZZ$ in the golden channel. We also critically discuss plausible reasons for the discrepancies between the two LHC experiments., Comment: Accepted for publication in Int. J. Mod. Phys. A

The Cosmological Principle (CP) -- the notion that the Universe is spatially isotropic and homogeneous on large scales -- underlies a century of progress in cosmology. It is conventionally formulated through the Friedmann-Lema\^itre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) cosmologies as the spacetime metric, and culminates in the successful and highly predictive $\Lambda$-Cold-Dark-Matter ($\Lambda$CDM) model. Yet, tensions have emerged within the $\Lambda$CDM model, most notably a statistically significant discrepancy in the value of the Hubble constant, $H_0$. Since the notion of cosmic expansion determined by a single parameter is intimately tied to the CP, implications of the $H_0$ tension may extend beyond $\Lambda$CDM to the CP itself. This review surveys current observational hints for deviations from the expectations of the CP, highlighting synergies and disagreements that warrant further study. Setting aside the debate about individual large structures, potential deviations from the CP include variations of cosmological parameters on the sky, discrepancies in the cosmic dipoles, and mysterious alignments in quasar polarizations and galaxy spins. While it is possible that a host of observational systematics are impacting results, it is equally plausible that precision cosmology may have outgrown the FLRW paradigm, an extremely pragmatic but non-fundamental symmetry assumption., Comment: extended contents and references, 73 pages (excluding references), 30 figures, version accepted for publication in Class. Quant. Grav. "Focus issue on the Hubble constant tension"

We compare our proposal for an additional heavy Standard Model Higgs boson to the available full data set collected by the CMS detector during Run 2 at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 138 fb$^{-1}$. The CMS Collaboration performed a search for a high mass Higgs boson decaying into a pair of W bosons in the dileptonic channel. Our analysis of the CMS data indicated the presence of a broad excess in the mass range 600 GeV - 800 GeV with respect to the expected Standard Model background with a rather significative statistical significance. We found that our theoretical proposal is in reasonable agreement with the experimental observations., Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures

We suggest that the Ellipsoidal Universe cosmological model, proposed several years ago to account for the low quadrupole temperature-temperature correlation of the Cosmic Microwave Background, can also provide temperature-temperature two-point angular correlation function in reasonable agreement with Planck observations., Comment: International Journal of Modern Physics A38 (2023) 2350030, 10 pages

The Hubble tension resides in a statistically significant discrepancy between early time and late time determinations of the Hubble constant. We discuss the Hubble tension within the Ellipsoidal Universe cosmological model. We suggest that allowing small anisotropies in the large-scale spatial geometry could alleviate the tension. We, also, show that the discrepancy in the measurements of the Hubble constant is reduced to a statistically acceptable level if we assume sizeable cosmological anisotropies during the Dark Age. In addition, we argue that the Ellipsoidal Universe cosmological model should resolve the $S_8$ tension., Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure, added and updated references

Recently, we proposed to picture the Higgs condensate of the Standard Model as a quantum liquid analogous to the superfluid Helium II. In this scenario the Higgs condensate excitations resemble closely two Standard Model Higgs bosons. The lightest Higgs boson was already identified with the LHC narrow resonance at 125 GeV. Concerning the heavy Higgs boson, we found preliminary evidence in our previous phenomenological analysis in the so-called golden channel. In the present note we compared our proposal to the full Run 2 data set released recently by the ATLAS Collaboration. Even though we do not found a clear statistical evidence for our Standard Model heavy Higgs, we found that our theoretical proposal is still in accordance with the available observations., Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures

We suggest that the neutron lifetime anomaly can be resolved by invoking the Casimir effect for trapped ultracold neutrons. Our proposal can be checked experimentally by precise lifetime measurements of trapped ultracold neutrons with different trapping volumes., Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure

P-stars are compact relativistic stars made of deconfined up and down quarks in a chromomagnetic condensate proposed by us long time ago. P-stars do not admit a critical mass thereby they are able to overcome the gravitational collapse to black holes. In this work we discuss in greater details our theoretical proposal for P-stars. We point out that our theory for compact relativistic stars stems from our own understanding of the confining quantum vacuum supported by estensive non-perturbative numerical simulations of Quantum ChromoDynamics on the lattice. We compare our proposal with the constraints arising from the recent observations of massive pulsars, the gravitational event GW170817 and the precise determination of the PSR J0030+0451 mass and radius from NICER data. We argue that core-collapsed supernovae could give rise to a P-star instead of a neutron star. In this case we show that the birth of a P-star could solve the supernova explosion problem leading to successful supernova explosions with total energies up to $10^{53}$ erg. We critically compare P-stars with the gravitational wave event GW170817 and the subsequent electromagnetic follow-up, the short Gamma Ray Burst GRB170817A and the kilonova AT2017gfo. We also present an explorative study on gravitational wave emission from coalescing binary P-stars with masses $M_1 \simeq M_2 \simeq 30 \; M_{\odot}$. We attempt a qualitative comparison with the gravitational wave event GW150914. We find that the gravitational wave strain amplitude from massive P-star binaries could mimic the ringdown gravitational wave emission by coalescing black hole binaries. We point out that a clear signature for massive P-stars would be the detection of wobble frequencies in the gravitational wave strain amplitude in the post-merger phase of two coalescing massive compact objects with unequal masses., Comment: Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2020) 135:891

We model the Higgs condensate of the Standard Model as a relativistic quantum fluid analogous to superfluid helium. We find that the low-lying excitations of the Higgs condensate behave like two relativistic Higgs fields. The lighter Higgs boson has a mass of order $10^2$ GeV. We identify this light Higgs particle with the new LHC resonance at 125 GeV. The heavy Higgs boson has a mass around 750 GeV consistent with our recent phenomenological analysis of the preliminary LHC Run 2 data in the golden channel. We critical compare our theoretical scenario with two Higgs bosons to the available LHC Run 2 data., Comment: International Journal of Theoretical Physics

In the original version of the theory, the driving mechanism for spontaneous symmetry breaking was identified in the pure scalar sector. However, this old idea requires a heavy Higgs particle that, after the discovery of the 125 GeV resonance, seems to be ruled out. We argue that this is not necessarily true. If the phase transition is weakly first order, as indicated by most recent lattice simulations, one should consider those approximation schemes that are in agreement with this scenario. Then, even in a simple one-component theory, it becomes natural to introduce two mass scales, say $M_h$ and $m_h$ with $m_h \ll M_h$. This resembles the coexistence of phonons and rotons in superfluid helium-4, which is the non-relativistic analogue of the scalar condensate, and is potentially relevant for the Standard Model. In fact, vacuum stability would depend on $M_h$ and not on $m_h$ and be nearly insensitive to the other parameters of the theory (e.g. the top quark mass). By identifying $m_h=125$ GeV, and with our previous estimate from lattice simulations $M_h= 754 \pm 20 ~\rm{(stat)} \pm 20 ~\rm{(syst)}$ GeV, we thus get in touch with a recent, independent analysis of the ATLAS + CMS data which claims experimental evidence for a scalar resonance around $700$ GeV., Comment: 10 pages

We compared the Planck 2018 data on the large-scale anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background to the results obtained in the slightly anisotropic ellipsoidal universe. We focused on the quadrupole temperature correlations to better constrain the eccentricity at decoupling and the direction of the symmetry axis. We found that the quadrupole TE and EE temperature correlations in the ellipsoidal universe are still in reasonable agreement with the Planck 2018 data. We suggested that an experimental estimate of the average large-scale polarisation by the Planck Collaboration could confirm or reject the anisotropic universe proposal., Comment: LaTex, 15 pages, 1 figure, revised version, European Physical Journal Plus accepted, arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1401.5627

We report on the chromoelectric and chromomagnetic fields generated by a static quark-antiquark pair at zero temperature in pure gauge SU(3). From the spatial structure of chromoelectric field we extract its nonperturbative part and discuss its properties., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables, originally presented at the 36th Annual International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, 22-28 July, 2018, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA

The aim of the present note is to compare the recent LHC data at $\sqrt{s} =13 \,TeV$ with our previous theoretical proposal that the true Higgs boson $H_T$ should be a broad heavy resonance with mass around $750 \, GeV$. We focus on the so-called golden channel $H_T \rightarrow ZZ$ where the pair of Z bosons decay leptonically to $\ell^+ \ell^- \ell^+ \ell^-$, $\ell$ being either an electron or a muon. We use the data collected by the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations at $\sqrt{s} =13 \,TeV$ with an integrated luminosity of $36.1 \, fb^{-1}$ and $77.4 \, fb^{-1}$ respectively. We find that the experimental data from both the LHC Collaborations do display in the golden channel a rather broad resonance structure around $700 \, GeV$ with a sizeable statistical significance. Our theoretical expectations seem to be in fair good agreement with the experimental observations. Combining the data from both the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations we obtain an evidence of the heavy Higgs boson in this channel with an estimated statistical significance of more than five standard deviations., Comment: Modern Physics Letters A Vol. 33, No. 1 (2019) 1950137 (9 pages) DOI: 10.1142/S0217732319501372. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1707.05605, arXiv:1609.09612

We study the behavior across the deconfinement phase transition of the chromoelectric flux tube generated by a static quark and a static antiquark for several distances between them. We present preliminary results for distances up to 1.33 fm and temperatures up to $1.5 T_c$., Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, talk presented at the 35th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, 18-24 June 2017, Granada, Spain

We further elaborate on the proposal that the Higgs boson should be a broad heavy resonance, referred to as true Higgs $H_T$, with mass around $750 \, GeV$. We stress once again that within the Standard Model the true Higgs is the unique possibility to implement the spontaneous symmetry breaking of the local gauge symmetry by elementary, relativistic and strictly local scalar fields. We discuss the most relevant decay modes of the $H_T$ boson and estimate they partial decay widths and branching ratios. We discuss briefly the experimental signatures of the $H_T$ Higgs boson and compare with the recent available LHC data at $\sqrt{s} =13 \,TeV$. We find that the coupling of the $H_T$ Higgs boson to fermions is strongly suppressed. We also compare our theoretical expectations in the so-called golden channel to the data collected by the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations at $\sqrt{s} =13 \,TeV$ with an integrated luminosity of $36.1 \, fb^{-1}$ and $35.9 \, fb^{-1}$ respectively. We find that our theoretical expectations are in fair good agreement with the experimental observations. Combining the data from both the LHC Collaborations we obtain an evidence of the heavy Higgs boson in this channel with an estimated statistical significance of more than three standard deviations. Finally, we argue that, if the signal is real, by the end of the Run 2 both the LHC experiments will reach in the golden channel a statistical significance of about five standard deviations., Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure, revised version. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1609.09612

The hypothesis that the QCD vacuum can be modeled as a dual superconductor is a powerful tool to describe the distribution of the color field generated by a quark-antiquark static pair and, as such, can provide useful clues for the understanding of confinement. In this work we investigate, by lattice Monte Carlo simulations of the $SU(3)$ pure gauge theory and of (2+1)-flavor QCD with physical mass settings, some properties of the chromoelectric flux tube at zero temperature and their dependence on the physical distance between the static sources. We draw some conclusions about the validity domain of the dual superconductor picture., Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables; added/modified some text, improved Fig.1; version to be published on Phys. Rev. D

We present an alternative interpretation within the Standard Model of the new LHC resonance at $125 \; GeV$. We further elaborate on our previous proposal that the resonance at 125 GeV could be interpreted as a pseudoscalar meson with quantum number $J^{PC} = 0^{- +}$. We develop a phenomenological approach where this pseudoscalar mimics the decays of the Standard Model Higgs boson in the vector boson decay channels. We propose that the true Higgs boson should be a heavy resonance with mass of $750 \, GeV$ as argued in Ref.~\cite{Cea:2012}. We determine the most relevant decay modes and estimate the partial decay widths and branching ratios. We also discuss briefly the experimental signatures of this heavy Higgs boson. Finally, we attempt a comparison of our theoretical expectations with recent data at $\sqrt{s} =13 \,TeV$ from ATLAS and CMS experiments in the so-called golden channel. We find that the available experimental data could be consistent with the heavy Higgs scenario., Comment: 27 pages, 7 figures, final version

We discuss the physics of the high temperature superconductivity in hole doped copper oxide ceramics in the pseudogap region. Starting from an effective reduced Hamiltonian relevant to the dynamics of holes injected into the copper oxide layers proposed in a previous paper, we determine the superconductive condensate wavefunction. We show that the low-lying elementary condensate excitations are analogous to the rotons in superfluid $^4He$. We argue that the rotons-like excitations account for the specific heat anomaly at the critical temperature. We discuss and compare with experimental observations the London penetration length, the Abrikosov vortices, the upper and lower critical magnetic fields, and the critical current density. We give arguments to explain the origin of the Fermi arcs and Fermi pockets. We investigate the nodal gap in the cuprate superconductors and discuss both the doping and temperature dependence of the nodal gap. We suggest that the nodal gap is responsible for the doping dependence of the so-called nodal Fermi velocity detected in angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy studies. We discuss the thermodynamics of the nodal quasielectron liquid and their role in the low temperature specific heat. We propose that the ubiquitous presence of charge density wave in hole doped cuprate superconductors in the pseudogap region originates from instabilities of the nodal quasielectrons driven by the interaction with the planar $CuO_2$ lattice. We investigate the doping dependence of the charge density wave gap and the competition between charge order and superconductivity. We discuss the effects of external magnetic fields on the charge density wave gap and elucidate the interplay between charge density wave and Abrikosov vortices. Finally, we examine the physics underlying quantum oscillations in the pseudogap region., Comment: Revised version, accepted for publication in EPJB

The chromoelectric field generated by a static quark-antiquark pair, with its peculiar tube-like shape, can be nicely described, at zero temperature, within the dual superconductor scenario for the QCD confining vacuum. In this work we investigate, by lattice Monte Carlo simulations of the SU(3) pure gauge theory, the fate of chromoelectric flux tubes across the deconfinement transition. We find that, as the temperature is increased towards and above the deconfinement temperature $T_c$, the amplitude of the field inside the flux tube gets smaller, while the shape of the flux tube does not vary appreciably across deconfinement. This scenario with flux-tube "evaporation" above $T_c$ has no correspondence in ordinary (type-II) superconductivity, where instead the transition to the phase with normal conductivity is characterized by a divergent fattening of flux tubes as the transition temperature is approached from below. We present also some evidence about the existence of flux-tube structures in the magnetic sector of the theory in the deconfined phase., Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1404.1172

An attempt to adapt the study of color flux tubes to the case of finite temperature has been made. The field is measured both through the correlator of two Polyakov loops, one of which connected to a plaquette, and through a connected correlator of Wilson loop and plaquette in the spatial sublattice. Still the profile of the flux tube resembles the transverse field distribution around an isolated vortex in an ordinary superconductor. The temperature dependence of all the parameters characterizing the flux tube is investigated., Comment: 7 pages, 9 figures, presented at The 33rd International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, 14 -18 July 2015, Kobe, Japan, PoS(LATTICE 2015)322

We study QCD with (2+1)-HISQ fermions at nonzero temperature and nonzero imaginary baryon chemical potential. Monte Carlo simulations are performed using the MILC code along the line of constant physics with a light to strange mass ratio of $m_l/m_s=1/20$ on lattices up to $48^3 \times 12$ to check for finite cutoff effects. We determine the curvature of the pseudocritical line extrapolated to the continuum limit., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, Proceedings of the 33rd International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (Lattice 2015), 14-18 July 2015, Kobe International Conference Center, Kobe, Japan

We developed a quantum field theoretical description for the surface states of three-dimensional topological insulators. Within the relativistic quantum field theory formulation, we investigated the dynamics of low-lying surface states in an applied transverse magnetic field. We argued that, by taking into account quantum fluctuations, in three-dimensional topological insulators there is dynamical generation of a gap by a rearrangement of the Dirac sea. By comparing with available experimental data we found that our theoretical results allowed a consistent and coherent description of the Landau level spectrum of the surface low-lying excitations. Finally, we showed that the recently detected zero-Hall plateau at the charge neutral point could be accounted for by chiral edge states residing at the magnetic domain boundaries between the top and bottom surfaces of the three-dimensional topological insulator., Comment: 28 pages, 8 figures; revised version accepted for publication in EPJB

We investigate N$_f$ = 1 QCD in external magnetic fields on the lattice. The background field is introduced by means of the so-called Schrodinger functional. We adopt standard staggered fermions with constant bare mass $am = 0.025$ and magnetic fields with constant magnetic flux up to $a^2 e H \simeq 2.3562$. We find that the the deconfinement and chiral symmetry restoration temperatures do not depend on the strength of the applied magnetic field. Our method allow us to easily study the effects of the external magnetic fields on the QCD thermodynamics. We determine the influences of applied magnetic fields to the free energy, pressure, and equation of state of strongly interacting matter., Comment: 21 pages, 11 figures; revised version accepted for publication in JHEP

We determine the continuum limit of the curvature of the pseudocritical line of QCD with $n_f$=2+1 staggered fermions at nonzero temperature and quark density. We perform Monte Carlo simulations at imaginary baryon chemical potentials, adopting the HISQ/tree action discretization, as implemented in the code by the MILC collaboration. Couplings are adjusted so as to move on a line of constant physics, as determined in Ref.~\cite{Bazavov:2011nk}, with the strange quark mass $m_s$ fixed at its physical value and a light-to-strange mass ratio $m_l/m_s=1/20$. The chemical potential is set at the same value for the three quark species, $\mu_l=\mu_s\equiv \mu$. We attempt an extrapolation to the continuum using the results on lattices with temporal size up to $L_t=12$. Our estimate for the continuum value of the curvature $\kappa$ at zero baryon density, $\kappa=0.020(4)$, is compared with recent lattice results and with experimental determinations of the freeze-out curve., Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, 16 tables; modified title and abstract, added two tables and a few comments in the text, added appendix with 13 tables; version to appear on Phys. Rev. D

The transverse profile of the chromoelectric field generated by a quark-antiquark pair in the SU(3) vacuum is analysed within the dual superconductor scenario, then the London penetration depth and coherence length are extracted. The color field is determined on the lattice through a connected correlator of two Polyakov loops measured on smeared configurations., Comment: 7 pages, 9 figures, The 32nd International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, 23-28 June 2014, Columbia University New York, NY, PoS(LATTICE2014)350

We present results on the curvature of the critical line of QCD with 2+1 HISQ fermions at nonzero temperature and quark density obtained by analytic continuation from imaginary chemical potentials. Monte Carlo simulations are performed by means of the MILC code, suitably modified to include a nonzero imaginary baryon chemical potential. We set the chemical potential at the same value for the three quark species and work on the line of constant physics with a light to strange mass ratio of 1/20 as determined in Ref.~\cite{Bazavov:2011nk}., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. Talk presented at the 32nd International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory (Lattice 2014), 23-28 June, 2014, Columbia University, New York

Within the dual superconductor scenario for the QCD confining vacuum, the chromoelectric field generated by a static $q\overline{q}$ pair can be fitted by a function derived, by dual analogy, from a simple variational model for the magnitude of the normalized order parameter of an isolated Abrikosov vortex. Previous results for the SU(3) vacuum are revisited, but here the transverse chromoelectric field is measured by means of the connected correlator of two Polyakov loops and, in order to reduce noise, the smearing procedure is used instead of cooling. The penetration and coherence lengths of the flux tube are then extracted from the fit and compared with previous results.

We determine the curvature of the (pseudo)critical line of QCD with $n_f$=2+1 staggered fermions at nonzero temperature and quark density, by analytic continuation from imaginary chemical potentials. Monte Carlo simulations are performed adopting the HISQ/tree action discretization, as implemented in the code by the MILC collaboration, suitably modified to include a nonzero imaginary baryon chemical potential. We work on a line of constant physics, as determined in Ref.\cite{Bazavov:2011nk}, adjusting the couplings so as to keep the strange quark mass $m_s$ fixed at its physical value, with a light to strange mass ratio $m_l/m_s=1/20$. In the present investigation we set the chemical potential at the same value for the three quark species, $\mu_l=\mu_s\equiv \mu$. We explore lattices of different spatial extensions, $16^3\times 6$ and $24^3\times 6$, to check for finite size effects, and present results on a $32^3 \times 8$ lattice, to check for finite cut-off effects. We discuss our results for the curvature $\kappa$ of the critical line at $\mu = 0$, which indicate $\kappa=0.018(4)$, and compare them with previous lattice determinations by alternative methods and with experimental determinations of the freeze-out curve., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, 1 table

Recent Planck data confirm that the cosmic microwave background displays the quadru-pole power suppression together with large scale anomalies. Progressing from previous results, that focused on the quadrupole anomaly, we strengthen the proposal that the slightly anisotropic ellipsoidal universe may account for these anomalies. We solved at large scales the Boltzmann equation for the photon distribution functions by taking into account both the effects of the inflation produced primordial scalar perturbations and the anisotropy of the geometry in the ellipsoidal universe. We showed that the low quadrupole temperature correlations allowed us to fix the eccentricity at decoupling, $e_{\rm dec} \, = \, (0.86 \, \pm \, 0.14) \, 10^{-2}$, and to constraint the direction of the symmetry axis. We found that the anisotropy of the geometry of the universe contributes only to the large scale temperature anisotropies without affecting the higher multipoles of the angular power spectrum. Moreover, we showed that the ellipsoidal geometry of the universe induces sizable polarization signal at large scales without invoking the reionization scenario. We explicitly evaluated the quadrupole TE and EE correlations. We found an average large scale polarization $\Delta T_{pol} \, = \, (1.20 \, \pm \, 0.38) \; \mu K $. We point out that great care is needed in the experimental determination of the large-scale polarization correlations since the average temperature polarization could be misinterpreted as foreground emission leading, thereby, to a considerable underestimate of the cosmic microwave background polarization signal., Comment: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 2014 441 (2): 1646-1661 doi: 10.1093/mnras/stu687

An estimate of the London penetration and coherence lengths in the vacuum of the SU(3) pure gauge theory is given downstream an analysis of the transverse profile of the chromoelectric flux tubes. Within ordinary superconductivity, a simple variational model for the magnitude of the normalized order parameter of an isolated vortex produces an analytic expression for magnetic field and supercurrent density. In the picture of SU(3) vacuum as dual superconductor, this expression provides us with the function that fits the chromoelectric field data. The smearing procedure is used in order to reduce noise., Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, presented at the 31st International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory - LATTICE 2013 - July 29 - August 3, 2013 - Mainz, Germany

We comment on the Standard Model Higgs boson evidence from LHC. We propose that the new resonance at 125 GeV could be interpreted as a pseudoscalar meson with quantum number $J^{PC} = 0^{- +}$. We show that this pseudoscalar could mimic the decays of the Standard Model Higgs boson in all channels with the exception of the decay into two leptons that is strongly suppressed due to charge-conjugation invariance., Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure

The transverse profile of the chromoelectric flux tubes in SU(2) and SU(3) pure gauge theories is analyzed by a simple variational ansatz using a strict analogy with ordinary superconductivity. Our method allows to extract the penetration length and the coherence length of the flux tube., Comment: 10 pages, 16 figures, 2 tables; accepted for publication in Physical Review D

We investigate planar quantum electrodynamics (QED) with two degenerate staggered fermions in an external magnetic field on the lattice. We argue that in external magnetic fields there is dynamical generation of mass for two-dimensional massless Dirac fermions in the weak-coupling region. We extrapolate our lattice results to the quantum Hall effect in graphene., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review D

We analyze the distribution of the chromoelectric field generated by a static quark-antiquark pair in the SU(3) vacuum. We find that the transverse profile of the flux tube resembles the dual version of the Abrikosov vortex field distribution and give an estimate of the London penetration length in the confined vacuum., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, poster contribution to the XXIX International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, LATTICE 2011

We investigate planar Quantum ElectroDynamics (QED) with two degenerate staggered fermions in an external magnetic field on the lattice. Our preliminary results indicate that in external magnetic fields there is dynamical generation of mass for two-dimensional massless Dirac fermions in the weak coupling region. We comment on possible implications to the quantum Hall effect in graphene., Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, poster contribution to the XXIX International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, LATTICE 2011

We discuss the high-temperature superconductivity in copper oxide ceramics. We propose an effective Hamiltonian to describe the dynamics of electrons or holes injected into the copper oxide layers. We show that our approach is able to account for both the pseudogap and the superconductivity gap. For the hole-doped cuprates we discuss in details the underdoped, optimal doped, and overdoped regions of the phase diagram. In the underdoped region we determine the doping dependence of the upper critical magnetic field, the vortex region, and the discrete states bounded to the core of isolated vortices. We explain the origin of the Fermi arcs and Fermi pockets. Moreover, we discuss the recently reported peculiar dependence of the specific heat on the applied magnetic field. We determine the critical doping where the pseudogap vanishes. We find that in the overdoped region the superconducting transition is described by the conventional d-wave BCS theory. We discuss the optimal doping region and the crossover between the underdoped region and the overdoped region. We also discuss briefly the electron-doped cuprate superconductors., Comment: 40 pages, 13 figures, revised version accepted for publication in La Rivista del Nuovo Cimento

We investigate the quantum Hall effect in graphene. We argue that in graphene in presence of an external magnetic field there is dynamical generation of mass by a rearrangement of the Dirac sea. We show that the mechanism breaks the lattice valley degeneracy only for the $n=0$ Landau levels and leads to the new observed $\nu = \pm 1$ quantum Hall plateaus. We suggest that our result can be tested by means of numerical simulations of planar Quantum Electro Dynamics with dynamical fermions in an external magnetic fields on the lattice., Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, Mod. Phys. Lett. B 26 (2012) 1250084

We analyze the distribution of the chromoelectric field generated by a static quark-antiquark pair in the SU(3) vacuum and revisit previous results for SU(2). We find that the transverse profile of the flux tube resembles the dual version of the Abrikosov vortex field distribution. We give an estimate of the London penetration length of the chromoelectric field in the confined vacuum. We also speculate on the value of the ratio between the penetration lengths for SU(2) and SU(3) gauge theories., Comment: 6 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in Physical Review D

We revisit the determination of the pseudo-critical line of QCD with four degenerate quarks at non-zero temperature and baryon density by the method of analytic continuation. We determine the pseudo-critical couplings at imaginary chemical potentials by high-statistics Monte Carlo simulations and reveal deviations from the simple quadratic dependence on the chemical potential visible in earlier works on the same subject. Finally, we discuss the implications of our findings for the shape of the pseudo-critical line at real chemical potential, comparing different possible extrapolations., Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables

We perform a numerical study of the systematic effects involved in the determination of the critical line at real baryon chemical potential by analytic continuation from results obtained at imaginary chemical potentials. We present results obtained in a theory free of the sign problem, three-color QCD with finite isospin chemical potential, and comment on general features which could be relevant also to the continuation of the critical line in real QCD at finite baryon density., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, Contribution to The XXVII International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, Beijing, July 25-31, 2009

We discuss the large scale polarization of the cosmic microwave background induced by the anisotropy of the spatial geometry of our universe. Assuming an eccentricity at decoupling of about $0.64 10^{-2}$, we find an average large scale polarization $\Delta T_{pol}/ T_0 = (0.5 - 1.0) 10^{-6}$. We suggest that the fortcoming polarization data at large scales from Planck will be able to discriminate between our proposal and the generally accepted reionization scenario., Comment: 9 pages, revised version accepted for publication on Mont. Not. Roy. Astr. Soc.

We discuss the triviality and spontaneous symmetry breaking scenario where the Higgs boson without self-interaction coexists with spontaneous symmetry breaking. We argue that non perturbative lattice investigations support this scenario. Moreover, from lattice simulations we predict that the Higgs boson is rather heavy. We estimate the Higgs boson mass $m_H = 754 \pm 20 {\text{(stat)}} \pm 20 {\text{(syst)}} {\text{GeV}}$ and the Higgs total width $\Gamma(H) \simeq 340 {\text{GeV}}$., Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures, revised version accepted for publication on ISRN High Energy Physics

We perform a numerical study of the systematic effects involved in the determination of the critical line at real baryonic chemical potential by analytic continuation from results obtained at imaginary chemical potentials. We present results obtained in theories free of the sign problem, such as two-color QCD with finite baryonic density and three-color QCD with finite isospin chemical potential, and comment on general features which could be relevant also to the continuation of the critical line in real QCD at finite baryonic density., Comment: 12 pages, 13 figures, 7 tables (revised version accepted by Phys. Rev. D80, 034501(2009))

The method of analytic continuation from imaginary to real chemical potentials $\mu$ is one of the few available techniques to study QCD at finite temperature and baryon density. One of its most appealing applications is the determination of the critical line for small $\mu$: we perform a direct test of the validity of the method in this case by studying two-color QCD, where the sign problem is absent. The (pseudo)critical line is found to be analytic around $\mu^2 = 0$, but a very large precision would be needed at imaginary $\mu$ to correctly predict the location of the critical line at real $\mu$., Comment: Replaced with the version accepted for publication as a Rapid Communication in Physical Review D1

We determine the pseudo-critical line in the temperature - chemical potential plane of 2-color QCD by direct Monte Carlo simulations and by analytic continuation from imaginary chemical potential., Comment: 7 pages, presented at the XXV International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, July 30 - August 4 2007, Regensburg, Germany

We present some up-to-date results on QCD phase transition in a chromomagnetic constant background field and in an abelian monopole background field. Our results indicate that the QCD critical temperature is not modified by a monopole background field, whilst it is modified by a constant chromomagnetic field. We improve our earlier estimate of the QCD critical parameters in a chromomagnetic background field by performing lattice simulations with weaker fields., Comment: contribution to the XXV International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, July 30 - August 4 2007, Regensburg, Germany, 7 pages

We investigate the phase transition in full QCD with two flavors of staggered fermions in presence of a constant abelian chromomagnetic field. We find that the critical temperature depends on the strength of the chromomagnetic field and that the deconfined phase extends to very low temperatures for strong enough fields. As in the case of zero external field, a single transition is detected, within statistical uncertainties, where both deconfinement and chiral symmetry restoration take place. We also find that the chiral condensate increases with the strength of the chromomagnetic field., Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures, 1 table