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This writeup is a compilation of the predictions for the forthcoming Heavy Ion Program at the Large Hadron Collider, as presented at the CERN Theory Institute 'Heavy Ion Collisions at the LHC - Last Call for Predictions', held from May 14th to June 10th 2007., Comment: LaTeX, 185 pages, uses iop styles; writeup of the CERN Theory Institute 'Heavy Ion Collisions at the LHC - Last Call for Predictions', held from May 14th to June 10th 2007

We investigate a (3+1)-dimensional hydrodynamic expansion of the hot and dense system created in head-on collisions of Pb+Pb/Au+Au at beam energies from $5-200A$ GeV. An equation of state that incorporates a critical end point (CEP) in line with the lattice data is used. The necessary initial conditions for the hydrodynamic evolution are taken from a microscopic transport approach (UrQMD). We compare the properties of the initial state and the full hydrodynamical calculation with an isentropic expansion employing an initial state from a simple overlap model. We find that the specific entropy ($S/A$) from both initial conditions is very similar and only depends on the underlying equation of state. Using the chiral (hadronic) equation of state we investigate the expansion paths for both initial conditions. Defining a critical area around the critical point, we show at what beam energies one can expect to have a sizable fraction of the system close to the critical point. Finally, we emphasise the importance of the equation of state of strongly interacting matter, in the (experimental) search for the CEP., Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures

Event-by-event fluctuations of the net baryon number and electric charge in nucleus-nucleus collisions are studied in Pb+Pb at SPS energies within the HSD transport model. We reveal an important role of the fluctuations in the number of target nucleon participants. They strongly influence all measured fluctuations even in the samples of events with rather rigid centrality trigger. This fact can be used to check different scenarios of nucleus-nucleus collisions by measuring the multiplicity fluctuations as a function of collision centrality in fixed kinematical regions of the projectile and target hemispheres. The HSD results for the event-by-event fluctuations of electric charge in central Pb+Pb collisions at 20, 30, 40, 80 and 158 A GeV are in a good agreement with the NA49 experimental data and considerably larger than expected in a quark-gluon plasma. This demonstrate that the distortions of the initial fluctuations by the hadronization phase and, in particular, by the final resonance decays dominate the observable fluctuations., Comment: 24 pages, 17 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev. C; new results on electric charge fluctuations in central Pb+Pb collisions at SPS energies have been added

String theory suggests modifications of our spacetime such as extra dimensions and the existence of a mininal length scale. In models with addidional dimensions, the Planck scale can be lowered to values accessible by future colliders. Effective theories which extend beyond the standart-model by including extra dimensions and a minimal length allow computation of observables and can be used to make testable predictions. Expected effects that arise within these models are the production of gravitons and black holes. Furthermore, the Planck-length is a lower bound to the possible resolution of spacetime which might be reached soon., Comment: 8 pages, no figures, Talk presented at the NATO Advanced Study Institute: Structure and Dynamics of Elementary Matter, Kemer, Turkey, 22 Sep - 2 Oct 2003. Proceedings to be published by Kluwer Academic publishers

We discuss the new data for the production of the $\psi'$ meson in pA collisions at 450 GeV at CERN-SPS (of the NA50-collaboration) [1]. We extract from the CERN data $\sigma(\psi' N)\approx 8$ mb under the assumption that the $\psi'$ is produced as a result of the space-time evolution of a point-like $c\bar c$ pair which expands with time to the full size of the charmonium state. In the analysis we assume the existence of a relationship between the distribution of color in a hadron and the cross section of its interaction with a nucleon. However, our result is rather sensitive to the pattern of the expansion of the wave packet and significantly larger values of $\sigma(\psi' N)$ are not ruled out by the data. We show that recent CERN data confirm the suggestion of [2] that color fluctuations of the strengths in charmonium-nucleon interaction are the major source of suppression of the $J/\psi$ yield as observed at CERN in both pA and AA collisions., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures (one with color)

We introduce a model for the real-time evolution of a relativistic fluid of quarks coupled to non-equilibrium dynamics of the long wavelength (classical) modes of the chiral condensate. We solve the equations of motion numerically in 3+1 space-time dimensions. Starting the evolution at high temperature in the symmetric phase, we study dynamical trajectories that either cross the line of first-order phase transitions or evolve through its critical endpoint. For those cases, we predict the behavior of the azimuthal momentum asymmetry for high-energy heavy-ion collisions at nonzero impact parameter., Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, version accepted for publication in PRC

The lightest supersymmetric particle, most likely the lightest neutralino, is one of the most prominent particle candidates for cold dark matter (CDM). We show that the primordial spectrum of density fluctuations in neutralino CDM has a sharp cut-off, induced by two different damping mechanisms. During the kinetic decoupling of neutralinos, non-equilibrium processes constitute viscosity effects, which damp or even absorb density perturbations in CDM. After the last scattering of neutralinos, free streaming induces neutralino flows from overdense to underdense regions of space. Both damping mechanisms together define a minimal mass scale for perturbations in neutralino CDM, before the inhomogeneities enter the nonlinear epoch of structure formation. We find that the very first gravitationally bound neutralino clouds ought to have masses above 10^{-6} solar masses, which is six orders of magnitude above the mass of possible axion miniclusters., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, to appear in proceedings of "IDM 2002, 4th International Workshop on the Identification of Dark Matter"

A canonical partition function for the two-component excluded volume model is derived, leading to two different van der Waals approximations. The one is known as the Lorentz-Berthelot mixture and the other has been proposed recently. Both models are analysed in the canonical and grand canonical ensemble. In comparison with the one-component van der Waals excluded volume model the suppression of particle densities is reduced in these two-component formulations, but in two essentially different ways. Presently used multi-component models have no such reduction. They are shown to be not correct when used for components with different hard-core radii. For high temperatures the excluded volume interaction is refined by accounting for the Lorentz contraction of the spherical excluded volumes, which leads to a distinct enhancement of lighter particles. The resulting effects on pion yield ratios are studied for AGS and SPS data., Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, RevTeX 3.1

We present a new technique for observing the strange quark matter distillation process based on unlike particle correlations. A simulation is presented based on the scenario of a two-phase thermodynamical evolution model., Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures, 1 table

The quark-molecular-dynamics model is used to study microscopically the dynamics of the coloured quark phase and the subsequent hadron formation in relativistic S+Au collisions at the CERN-SPS. Particle spectra and hadron ratios are compared to both data and the results of hadronic transport calculations. The non-equilibrium dynamics of hadronization and the loss of correlation among quarks are studied., Comment: 22 pages, 10 figures, for associated mpeg files, see http://www.th.physik.uni-frankfurt.de/~scherer/qmd/mpegs/

An extended chiral SU(3) model is applied to the description of dense, hot and strange hadronic matter. The degrees of freedom are the baryon octet and decuplet and the spin-0 and spin-1 meson multiplets. The parameters of the model are fitted to the hadron masses in vacumm, infinite nuclear matter properties and soft pion theorems. At high densities the appearance of density isomers cannot be ruled out and extrapolation to finite temperature exhibits a first order phase transition at $T \approx 150 MeV$. The predicted dropping baryon masses lead to drastically changed particle ratios compared to ideal gas calculations., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, Contribution to the Proceedings of the 15th Particles and Nuclei International Conference (PANIC 99), Uppsala, Sweden, June 10-16, 1999

Nuclei can be described satisfactorily in a nonlinear chiral SU(3)-framework, even with standard potentials of the linear $\sigma$-model. The condensate value of the strange scalar meson is found to be important for the properties of nuclei even without adding hyperons. By neglecting terms which couple the strange to the nonstrange condensate one can reduce the model to a Walecka model structure embedded in SU(3). We discuss inherent problems with chiral SU(3) models regarding hyperon optical potentials., Comment: 25 pages, RevTeX

In 18 beginning computer classes of middle and high school students, 409 pre- and postsemester keyboarding timings were taken. Significant differences in grades were related to developmental phase (those in cognitive or overlap phases had lower grades than those in associative phase--over 25 words per minute). Students showed significant progress in phases over the semester. (SK)