Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science

▪ Abstract  We review lattice QCD investigations at high temperature. After a short introduction to thermal QCD on the lattice, we report on the present understanding of the phase diagram and the equation of state, particularly in the presence of dynamical quarks. We discuss various screening lengths in the plasma phase, including results from dimensionally reduced QCD. We then summarize lattice data on quark-number susceptibilities and spectral densities, both of which are immediately relevant to the interpretation of heavy-ion experiments. A major section is devoted to simulations of QCD at small, yet phenomenologically important, values for the baryon density.

▪ Abstract  Experiments using slow neutrons address a growing range of scientific issues spanning nuclear physics, particle physics, astrophysics, and cosmology. The field of fundamental physics using neutrons has experienced a significant increase in activity over the last two decades. This review summarizes some of the recent developments in the field and outlines some of the prospects for future research.

We provide a broad overview of the theoretical status and phenomenological applications of the color glass condensate effective field theory, which describes universal properties of saturated gluons in hadron wave functions that are extracted from deep-inelastic scattering and hadron-hadron collision experiments at high energies.

▪ Abstract  We provide a pedagogical introduction to a recently studied class of phenomenologically interesting string models known as Intersecting D-Brane Models. The gauge fields of the Standard Model are localized on D-branes wrapping certain compact cycles on an underlying geometry, whose intersections can give rise to chiral fermions. We address the basic issues and also provide an overview of the recent activity in this field. This article is intended to serve non-experts with explanations of the fundamental aspects of string phenomenology and also to provide some orientation for both experts and non-experts in this active field.

We review the theoretical background, experimental techniques, and phenomenology of what is known in relativistic heavy ion physics as the Glauber model, which is used to calculate geometric quantities. A brief history of the original Glauber model is presented, with emphasis on its development into the purely classical, geometric picture used for present-day data analyses. Distinctions are made between the optical limit and Monte Carlo approaches, which are often used interchangeably but have some essential differences in particular contexts. The methods used by the four RHIC experiments are compared and contrasted, although the end results are reassuringly similar for the various geometric observables. Finally, several important RHIC measurements are highlighted that rely on geometric quantities, estimated from Glauber calculations, to draw insight from experimental observables. The status and future of Glauber modeling in the next generation of heavy ion physics studies is briefly discussed.

▪ Abstract  This article reviews the standard-model prediction for the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon and describes recent updates of QED, electroweak, and hadronic contributions. Comparison of theory and experiment suggests a 2.4 σ difference if [Formula: see text] hadrons data are used to evaluate the main hadronic effects, but a smaller discrepancy if hadronic τ decay data are employed. Implications of a deviation for “new physics” contributions, along with an outlook for future improvements in theory and experiment, are briefly discussed.