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We consider the finite temperature phase diagram of holographic QCD in the Veneziano limit (Nc large, Nf large with xf=Nf/Nc fixed) and calculate one string-loop corrections to the free energy in certain approximations. Such corrections, especially due to the pion modes are unsuppressed in the Veneziano limit. We find that under some extra assumptions the first order transition following from classical gravity solutions can become second order. If stringy asymptotics are of a special form and there are residual interactions it may even become of third order. Operationally these computations imply modelling the low temperature chiral symmetry breaking phase with a hadron gas containing Nf^2 massless Goldstone bosons and an exponential spectrum of massive hadrons. A third order transition is possible only if repulsive hadron interactions via the excluded volume effect are included., Comment: Figures 8 and 9left replaced with correct ones

A holographic model of QCD in the limit of large number of colors, $N_c$, and massless fermion flavors, $N_f$, but constant ratio $x_f=N_f/N_c$ is analyzed at finite temperature and chemical potential. The five dimensional gravity model contains three bulk fields: a scalar dilaton sourcing ${\rm Tr}F^2$, a scalar tachyon dual to $\bar qq$ and a 4-vector dual to the baryon current $\bar q \gamma^{\mu} q$. The main result is the $\mu,T$ phase diagram of the holographic theory. A first order deconfining transition along $T_h(\mu)$ and a chiral transition at $T_\chi(\mu)>T_h(\mu)$ are found. The chiral transition is of second order for all $\mu$. The dependence of thermodynamical quantities including the speed of sound and susceptibilities on the chemical potential and temperature is computed. A new quantum critical regime is found at zero temperature and finite chemical potential. It is controlled by an AdS$_2\times R^3$ geometry and displays semi-local criticality., Comment: 72 pages, 25 figures. In V2 a numerical error affecting a subset of numerical examples of v1 corrected, figures and text revised accordingly. In V3 the metadata abstract corrected to match the one in V2 manuscript

Holographic models in the T=0 universality class of QCD in the limit of large number N_c of colors and N_f massless fermion flavors, but constant ratio x_f=N_f/N_c, are analyzed at finite temperature. The models contain a 5-dimensional metric and two scalars, a dilaton sourcing TrF^2 and a tachyon dual to \bar qq. The phase structure on the T,x_f plane is computed and various 1st order, 2nd order transitions and crossovers with their chiral symmetry properties are identified. For each x_f, the temperature dependence of p/T^4 and the quark-antiquark -condensate is computed. In the simplest case, we find that for x_f up to the critical x_c\sim 4 there is a 1st order transition on which chiral symmetry is broken and the energy density jumps. In the conformal window x_c

We provide a pedagogical introduction to extensions of the Standard Model in which the Higgs is composite. These extensions are known as models of dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking or, in brief, Technicolor. Material covered includes: motivations for Technicolor, the construction of underlying gauge theories leading to minimal models of Technicolor, the comparison with electroweak precision data, the low energy effective theory, the spectrum of the states common to most of the Technicolor models, the decays of the composite particles and the experimental signals at the Large Hadron Collider. The level of the presentation is aimed at readers familiar with the Standard Model but who have little or no prior exposure to Technicolor. Several extensions of the Standard Model featuring a composite Higgs can be reduced to the effective Lagrangian introduced in the text. We establish the relevant experimental benchmarks for Vanilla, Running, Walking, and Custodial Technicolor, and a natural fourth family of leptons, by laying out the framework to discover these models at the Large Hadron Collider., Comment: LaTeX, 102 pages. Version to match the published version

We analyze the potential of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) to observe signatures of phenomenologically viable Walking Technicolor models. We study and compare the Drell-Yan (DY) and Vector Boson Fusion (VBF) mechanisms for the production of composite heavy vectors. We find that the heavy vectors are most easily produced and detected via the DY processes. The composite Higgs phenomenology is also studied. If Technicolor walks at the LHC its footprints will be visible and our analysis will help uncovering them., Comment: RevTeX 4, 32 pages, 21 figures

We suggest that the large single spin asymmetries observed at high momentum fractions x_F and transverse momenta k_T of the pion in p^\uparrow p -> \pi(x_F,k_T)+X arise from the coherence of the soft interactions with the hard parton scattering process. Such coherence can be maintained if x_F -> 1 as k_T -> \infty, while k_T^2(1-x_F) ~ \Lambda_{QCD}^2 stays fixed. Analogous coherence effects have been seen experimentally in the Drell-Yan process at high x_F. We find that the p^\uparrow p -> \pi X production amplitudes have large dynamic phases and that helicity flip contributions are unsuppressed in this limit, giving rise to potentially large single spin asymmetries., Comment: 3 pages, 1 figure. Talk given at EPS HEP 2007, Manchester

The transverse single-spin asymmetry A_N observed in high energy proton-proton collisions p^\uparrow p \to pi X has been found to increase with the momentum fraction x_F of the pion up to the largest measured x_F \sim 0.8, where A_N \simeq 40%. We consider the possibility that the asymmetry is due to a non-perturbatively generated spin-flip coupling in soft rescattering on the target proton. We demonstrate using perturbation theory that a non-vanishing asymmetry can be generated through interference between exchanges of even and odd charge conjugation provided both helicity flip and non-flip couplings contribute. Pomeron and odderon exchange can thus explain the energy independence of the asymmetry and predicts that the asymmetry should persist in events with large rapidity gaps., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. Talk at the "Advanced studies institute on symmetries and spin", Prague, July 19-26. v2: Added references

The Lorentz contraction of bound states in field theory is often appealed to in qualitative descriptions of high energy particle collisions. Surprisingly, the contraction has not been demonstrated explicitly even in simple cases such as the hydrogen atom. It requires a calculation of wave functions evaluated at equal (ordinary) time for bound states in motion. Such wave functions are not obtained by kinematic boosts from the rest frame. Starting from the exact Bethe-Salpeter equation we derive the equal-time wave function of a fermion-antifermion bound state in QED, i.e., positronium or the hydrogen atom, in any frame to leading order in alpha. We show explicitly that the bound state energy transforms as the fourth component of a vector and that the wave function of the fermion-antifermion Fock state contracts as expected. Transverse photon exchange contributes at leading order to the binding energy of the bound state in motion. We study the general features of the corresponding fermion-antifermion-photon Fock states, and show that they do not transform by simply contracting. We verify that the wave function reduces to the light-front one in the infinite momentum frame., Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures; v2: some changes in discussion, accepted for publication in Phys.Rev.D

We consider the Lorentz contraction of a fermion-antifermion bound state in 1+1 dimensional QED. In 1+1 dimensions the absence of physical, propagating photons allows us to explicitly solve the weak coupling limit \alpha << m^2 of the Bethe-Salpeter bound state equation in any Lorentz frame. In a time-ordered formalism it is seen that all pair production is suppressed in this limit. The wave function is shown to contract while the mass spectrum is invariant under boosts., Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures; v2: text shortened, some comments added, references updated, version to appear in Phys Rev D