New phase in the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model for nonzero values of the chemical potential

It is shown that in the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model with nonzero chemical potential there exist two different phases with spontaneous breaking of chiral symmetry and the transition between the phases is a second-order phase transition. The particle number density is nonzero in one phase and identically zero in the other phase. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 64, No. 5, 313–318 (10 September 1996)     

The equation of state of quarks and mesons in a renormalization group flow picture

Non-perturbative flow equations within an effective linear sigma model coupled to constituent quarks for two quark flavours are derived and solved. A heat kernel regularization is employed for a renormalization group improved effective potential. We determine the initial values of the coupling constants in the effective potential at zero temperature. Solving the evolution equations with the same initial values at finite temperature in the chiral limit, we find a second-order phase transition at T_c≈150 MeV. Due to the smooth decoupling of massive modes, we can directly link the low-temperature four-dimensional theory to the three-dimensional high-temperature theory. We calculate the equation of state in the chiral limit and for finite pion masses and determine universal critical exponents.     

Quark potential in a quark–meson plasma

We investigate the effect of the restoration of chiral symmetry on the quark potential in a quark–meson plasma by considering meson exchanges in the two flavor Nambu–Jona-Lasinio model at finite temperature and density. There are two possible oscillations in the chiral restoration phase; one is the Friedel oscillation due to the sharp quark Fermi surface at high density, and the other is the Yukawa oscillation driven by the complex meson poles at high temperature. The quark–meson plasma is strongly coupled in the temperature region 1≤T/T _c≤3, with T _c being the critical temperature of the chiral phase transition. The maximum coupling in this region is located at the phase transition point.     

On the QCD phase structure from effective models

Some recent theoretical developments of the QCD phase diagram are summarized. Chiral symmetry restoration and the confinement/deconfinement transition at nonzero temperature and quark densities are analyzed in the framework of an effective linear sigma model with three light quark flavors. The sensitivity of the chiral transition as well as the existence of a critical end point in the phase diagram on the value of the sigma mass is explored. The influence of the axial anomaly on the chiral critical surface is addressed. Finally, the modifications by the inclusion of the Polyakov loop on the phase structure are investigated.     

Phase transitions in generalized chiral or Stiefel's models

We study the phase transition in generalized chiral or Stiefel's models using Monte Carlo simulations. These models are characterized by a breakdown of symmetry O(N)/O(N-P). We show that the phase transition is clearly first order for when P=N and P=N-1, contrary to predictions based on the renormalization group in expansion but in agreement with a recent non perturbative renormalization group approach. Received 7 October 1999     

Fluctuation-driven first-order transition in Pauli-limited d-wave superconductors

We study the phase transition between the normal and nonuniform (Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov) superconducting state in quasi-two-dimensional d-wave superconductors at finite temperature. We obtain an appropriate Ginzburg-Landau theory for this transition, in which the fluctuation spectrum of the order parameter has a set of minima at nonzero momenta. The momentum shell renormalization group procedure combined with epsilon expansion is then applied to analyze the phase structure of the theory. We find that all fixed points have more than one relevant direction, indicating the transition is of the fluctuation-driven first-order type for this universality class.     

On the phase structure of QCD in a finite volume

The chiral phase transition in QCD at finite chemical potential and temperature can be characterized for small chemical potential by its curvature and the transition temperature. The curvature is accessible to QCD lattice simulations, which are always performed at finite pion masses and in finite simulation volumes. We investigate the effect of a finite volume on the curvature of the chiral phase transition line. We use functional renormalization group methods with a two flavor quark-meson model to obtain the effective action in a finite volume, including both quark and meson fluctuation effects. Depending on the chosen boundary conditions and the pion mass, we find pronounced finite-volume effects. For periodic quark boundary conditions in spatial directions, we observe a decrease in the curvature in intermediate volume sizes, which we interpret in terms of finite-volume quark effects. Our results have implications for the phase structure of QCD in a finite volume, where the location of a possible critical endpoint might be shifted compared to the infinite-volume case.     

Phase structure of two-flavor QCD at finite chemical potential

We study the phase diagram of two-flavor QCD at imaginary chemical potentials in the chiral limit. To this end we compute order parameters for chiral symmetry breaking and quark confinement. The interrelation of quark confinement and chiral symmetry breaking is analyzed with a new order parameter for the confinement phase transition. We show that it is directly related to both the quark density as well as the Polyakov loop expectation value. Our analytical and numerical results suggest a close relation between the chiral and the confinement phase transition.     

利用格点量子色动力学研究手征平滑过渡温度和手征相变温度

回顾了最近关于手征平滑过渡温度和手征相变温度的研究结果。首先给出了在零重子化学势能下的手征平滑过渡温度为156.5(1.5) MeV,其次,给出了在非零重子化学势能下手征相转变曲线的二阶及四阶曲率分别为0.012(4)和0.000(4)。接着讨论了在格点QCD中第一次得到的量子色动力学的手征相变温度。在热力学极限、连续极限及手征极限下,我们得到手征相变温度为132$^{+3}_{-6}$ MeV。     

On the chiral phase transition in hadronic matter

A qualitative analysis of the chiral phase transition in QCD with two massless quarks and nonzero baryon density is performed. It is assumed that, at zero baryonic density, ρ=0, the temperature phase transition is of the second order. Due to a specific power dependence of baryon masses on the chiral condensate, the phase transition becomes of the first order at the temperature T=T_ph(ρ) for ρ>0. At temperatures T_cont(ρ)> _T>_Tph(ρ), there is a mixed phase consisting of the quark phase (stable) and the hadron phase (unstable). At the temperature T=T_cont(ρ), the system experiences a continuous transition to the pure chirally symmetric phase.     

The QCD phase boundary from quark–gluon dynamics

We study one-flavor QCD at finite temperature and chemical potential using the functional renormalization group. We discuss the chiral phase transition in QCD and its order with its underlying mechanism in terms of quarks and gluons and analyze the dependence of the phase-transition temperature on small quark chemical potentials. Our result for the curvature of the phase boundary at small quark chemical potential relies on only a single input parameter, the value of the strong coupling at the Z mass scale.     

Quantum spin model of a cubic ferromagnet in a magnetic field

The zero temperature phase diagram of a one-dimensional ferromagnet with cubic single ion anisotropy in an external magnetic field is studied. The mean-field approximation and the density-matrix renormalization group method are applied. Two phases at finite magnetic fields are identified: a canted phase with spontaneously broken symmetry and a phase with magnetization along the magnetic field. Both methods predict that the canted phase exists even for the single-ion anisotropy strong enough to destroy the magnetic order at zero magnetic field. In contrast to the mean-field theory, the density-matrix renormalization group predicts a reentrant behavior for the model. The character of the phase transition at finite magnetic field has also been considered and the critical index has been found. Received 9 May 2000 and Received in final form 5 July 2000     

Quantum phase transition of alkaline-earth fermionic atoms confined in an optical superlattice

Using the density matrix renormalization group method, we evaluate the spin and charge gaps of alkaline-earth fermionic atoms in a periodic one-dimensional optical superlattice. The number of delocalized atoms is equal to the lattice size and we consider an antiferromagnetic coupling between delocalized and localized atoms. We found a quantum phase transition from a Kondo insulator spin liquid state without confining potential to a charge-gapped antiferromagnetic state with nonzero potential. For each on-site coupling, there is a critical potential point for which the spin gap vanishes and its value increases linearly with the local interaction.     

Chiral symmetry breaking and pion properties at finite temperatures

Spontaneous and explicit chiral symmetry breaking is analyzed in Coulomb gauge QCD at finite temperatures, using an instantaneous approximation for the quark interaction and incorporating confinement through a running coupling constant. The thermodynamics of the quarks is treated approximatively by assuming that the momentum-dependent constituent quark mass sets the scale for thermodynamic fluctuations of colour singlet excitations. We investigate the class of a temperature independent and a temperature dependent interaction between quarks. In the chiral limit both temperature independent and a smooth temperature dependent interaction yields a second order chiral phase transition with critical exponents close to the values for a BCS super-conductor. For explicit chiral symmetry breaking we find a nearly constant pion mass below the transition temperature, but a strongly overdamped mode above. For a first order deconfining transition in the gluonic sector also the quark sector shows a first order chiral phase transition. The relevance of our results for relativistic heavy ion collisions is briefly discussed.     

Meson Effects on the Chiral Condensate at Finite Density

Meson corrections on the chiral condensate up to next-to-leading order in a 1/N_c expansion at finite density are investigated in the NJL model with explicit chiral symmetry breaking. Compared with mean-field results, the chiral phase transition is still of the first order while the properties near the critical density for chiral phase transition are found to change significantly.     

Competing interactions, the renormalization group, and the isotropic-nematic phase transition

We discuss 2D systems with Ising symmetry and competing interactions at different scales. In the framework of the renormalization group, we study the effect of relevant quartic interactions. In addition to the usual constant interaction term, we analyze the effect of quadrupole interactions in the self-consistent Hartree approximation. We show that in the case of a repulsive quadrupole interaction, there is a first-order phase transition to a stripe phase in agreement with the well-known Brazovskii result. However, in the case of attractive quadrupole interactions there is an isotropic-nematic second-order transition with higher critical temperature.     

BKT phase in systems of spinless strongly interacting one-dimensional fermions

We present the ground-state wavefunctions for a system of spinless one-dimensional fermions in the limit of an infinitely strong interaction, and we demonstrate explicitly that the system symmetry is lower than the original symmetry of the Hamiltonian. As a result, the system in this limit undergoes a second-order phase transition into a phase with finite density of chiral pairs. The phase transforms continuously into a Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) phase if the interaction in the model decreases. Therefore, just the BKT phase is realized in nature. The temperature of the smearing phase transition is calculated. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

The green wave model of two-dimensional traffic: Transitions in the flow properties and in the geometry of the traffic jam

We carried out computer simulations to study the green wave model (GWM), the parallel updating version of the two-dimensional traffic model of Biham et al. The better convergence properties of the GWM together with a multi-spin coding technique enabled us to extrapolate to the infinite system size which indicates a nonzero density transition from the free flow to the congested state (jamming transition). In spite of the sudden change in the symmetry of the correlation function at the transition point, finite size scaling and temporal scaling seems to hold, at least above the threshold density. There is a second transition point at a density deep in the congested phase where the geometry of the cluster of jammed cars changes from linear to branched: Just at this transition point this cluster has fractal geometry with dimension 1.58. The jamming transition is also described within the mean field approach.     

Disordered d-wave superconductors with interactions

We study the localization properties of disordered d-wave superconductors by means of the fermionic replica trick method. We derive the effective non-linear σ-model describing the diffusive modes related to spin transport which we analyze by the Wilson–Polyakov renormalization group. A lot of different symmetry classes are considered within the same framework. According to the presence or the absence of certain symmetries, we provide a detailed classification for the behavior of some physical quantities, like the density of states, the spin and the quasiparticle charge conductivities. Following the original Finkel'stein approach, we finally extend the effective functional method to include residual quasiparticle interactions, at all orders in the scattering amplitudes. We consider both the superconducting and the normal phase, with and without chiral symmetry, which occurs in the so-called two-sublattice models.