Non-Abelian global strings at chiral phase transition

We construct non-Abelian global string solutions in the UL_(N)×UR_(N)$U{(N)}_{\mathrm{L}}\times U{(N)}_{\mathrm{R}}$ linear sigma model. These strings are the most fundamental objects which are expected to form during the chiral phase transitions, because the Abelian η^′${\eta }^{\prime }$ string is marginally decomposed into N   of them. We point out Nambu–Goldstone modes of CPN−1$\mathbf{C}{P}^{N-1}$ for breaking of SUV_(N)$\mathit{SU}{(N)}_{\mathrm{V}}$ arise around a non-Abelian vortex.     

Instantons and the chiral phase transition

We examine the role of instantons in the zero-temperature chiral phase transition in an SU(N) gauge theory. For a range of N_f (the number of fermion flavors) depending on N, the theory exhibits an infrared fixed point at coupling _*. As N_f decreases, _* increases, and it eventually exceeds a critical value sufficient to trigger chiral symmetry breaking. For the case N = 2, we estimate the critical values of N_f and _* due to instantons by numerically solving a gap equation with an instanton-generated kernel. We find instanton effects of strength comparable to that of gluon exchange.     

Effective lagrangian analysis of the chiral phase transition at finite density

Introducing a finite chemical potential μ for the quark number density ψ^°ψ, we study analytically the restoration of Π^° chiral symmetry as μ is varied. In the strong coupling limit, the effective lagrangian for SU(N) gauge theories coupled to fermion fields in d dimensions is derived for all N. In the case of SU(2) we predict a second order chiral symmetry restoration phase transition, whereas for all N?3 the transition is first order. Predictions are given for the critical values of the chemical potential μ.     

Kurtosis and compressibility near the chiral phase transition

The properties of net quark number fluctuations in the vicinity of the QCD chiral phase transition are discussed in terms of an effective chiral model in the mean-field approximation. We focus on the ratio of the fourth- to second-order cumulants (kurtosis) and the compressibility of the system and discuss their dependence on the pion mass. It is shown that near the chiral phase transition, both observables are sensitive to the value of mπ$m_{\pi }$. For physical mπ$m_{\pi }$, the kurtosis exhibits a peak whereas the inverse compressibility shows a dip at the pseudocritical temperature. These structures disappear for large mπ$m_{\pi }$. Our results, obtained in an effective model with two flavors, are qualitatively consistent with recent results of 2+1$2+1$ flavor lattice gauge theory. We also discuss the high- and low-temperature properties of these observables and the role of the coupling of the quark degrees of freedom to the Polyakov loop.     

Nonlinear relaxation at first-order phase transitions: A Ginzburg-Landau theory including fluctuations

Kinetics of phase transitions are investigated in systems with nonconserved one-component order parameter (i.e., generalized time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau models ind dimensions). The correct static critical behavior as well as fluctuation effects on the kinetics are incorporated by a suitable adaptation of the theory on spinodal decomposition by Langer, Baron and Miller. Both the case of quenches from temperaturesT above to below the critical pointT _c and the case of magnetic field changesH from positive to negative values are treated, and both time-dependent order parameter m() and structure factorS(q, ) are obtained numerically ford=2, 3. In the case of quenches atH=0, we find that m()0 andS(q, ) —S(q, ) exp(– ^1/2/7.2) , withS(q, )q ^–2. In the case of field changes we find that forH not exceeding some critical valueH ^* the system is trapped in a metastable state with infinite lifetime. In contrast to the meanfield-spinodal, the susceptibility does not seem to diverge atH ^*. These results are compared with other treatments, in particular the Monte Carlo simulations of kinetic Ising models by Binder and Müller-Krumbhaar. While our theory describes some properties of the metastable states reasonably,H ^* distinctly exceeds the observed limit of metastability. We argue that the present theory does not take into account nucleation fluctuations, and also fails to describe correctly the domain growth in the late stages of the relaxation. Contrary to Langer et al. we suggest that universality holds for nonlinear relaxation and spinodal decomposition nearT _c .Supported in part by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Sonderforschungsbereich 130     

The chiral phase transition in QCD

The Chiral Phase Transition in QCD is studied analytically by looking at truncations of the Schwinger-Dyson equation for the quark self-mass. We find that the usual implementation of the gluon propagator at non-zero temperature is far too simple. When the gluons are given the correct qualitative non-zero temperature behaviour, the calculation of the critical temperature changes significantly.     

Transport coefficients near chiral phase transition

We analyze the transport properties of relativistic fluid composed of constituent quarks at finite temperature and density. We focus on the shear and bulk viscosities and study their behavior near chiral phase transition. We model the constituent quark interactions through the Nambu–Jona-Lasinio Lagrangian. The transport coefficients are calculated within kinetic theory under relaxation time approximation including in-medium modification of quasi-particles dispersion relations. We quantify the influence of the order of chiral phase transition and the critical end point on dissipative phenomena in such a medium.     

Mean-field approximation for the chiral soliton in a chiral phase transition

Using the mean-field approximation, we study the chiral soliton within the linear sigma model in a thermal vacuum. The chiral soliton equations with different boundary conditions are solved at finite temperatures and densities. The solitons are discussed before and after chiral restoration. We find that the system has soliton solutions even after chiral restoration, and that they are very different from those before chiral restoration, which indicates that the quarks are still bound after chiral restoration.     

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.     

Off-equilibrium photon production during the chiral phase transition

In the early stage of ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions chiral symmetry is restored temporarily. During this so-called chiral phase transition, the quark masses change from their constituent to their bare values. This mass shift leads to the spontaneous non-perturbative creation of quark–antiquark pairs, which effectively contributes to the formation of the quark–gluon plasma. We investigate the photon production induced by this creation process. We provide an approach that eliminates possible unphysical contributions from the vacuum polarization and renders the resulting photon spectra integrable in the ultraviolet domain. The off-equilibrium photon numbers are of quadratic order in the perturbative coupling constants while a thermal production is only of quartic order. Quantitatively, we find, however, that for the most physical mass-shift scenarios and for photon momenta larger than 1 GeV the off-equilibrium processes contribute less photons than the thermal processes.     

Pion propagation near the QCD chiral phase transition

We point out that, in analogy with spin waves in antiferromagnets, all parameters describing the real-time propagation of soft pions at temperatures below the QCD chiral phase transition can be expressed in terms of static correlators. This allows, in principle, the determination of the soft pion dispersion relation on the lattice. Using scaling and universality arguments, we determine the critical behavior of the parameters of pion propagation. We predict that, when the critical temperature is approached from below, the pole mass of the pion drops despite the growth of the pion screening mass. This fact is attributed to the decrease of the pion velocity near the phase transition.     

Studying pion effects on the chiral phase transition

We investigate the chiral phase transition at finite temperatures and zero chemical potential with Dyson-Schwinger equations. Our truncation for the quark-gluon interaction includes mesonic degrees of freedom, which allows us to study the impact of the pions on the nature of the phase transition. Within the present scheme we find a 5% change of the critical temperature due to the pion backreaction whereas the mean field character of the transition is not changed.     

The chiral phase transition at high baryon density from nonperturbative flow equations

We investigate the chiral phase transition at high baryon number density within the linear quark meson model for two flavors. The method we employ is based on an exact renormalization group equation for the free energy. Truncated nonperturbative flow equations are derived at nonzero chemical potential and temperature. Whereas the renormalization group flow leads to spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking in vacuum, we find a chiral symmetry restoring first order transition at high density. Combined with previous investigations at nonzero temperature, the result implies the presence of a tricritical point with long–range correlations in the phase diagram. Received: 24 August 1999 / Published online: 17 February 2000     

First-order chiral phase transition in lattice QCD

The chiral phase transition in lattice QCD has been studied for light fermions of mass ma=0.025 on lattices of size 4⁴ and 8³×4 using the hybrid algorithm. We find evidence for a first-order chiral phase transition with a large latent heat. A comparison with 10³×6 data shows violations of asymptotic scaling for T_ch which are similar in magnitude to those observed in the pure gauge sector.     

Analogue surface gravity near the QCD chiral phase transition

Using the formalism of relativistic acoustic geometry we study the expanding chiral fluid in the regime of broken chiral symmetry near the QCD chiral phase transition temperature _Tc$T_{\mathrm{c}}$. The dynamics of pions below _Tc$T_{\mathrm{c}}$ is described by the equation of motion for a massless scalar field propagating in curved spacetime similar to an open FRW universe. The metric tensor depends locally on the soft pion dispersion relation and the four-velocity of the fluid. In the neighbourhood of the critical point an analogue trapped region forms with the analogue trapped horizon as its boundary. We show that the associated surface gravity diverges near the critical point as κ∼(_Tc−T)⁻¹$\kappa \sim {(T_{\mathrm{c}}-T)}^{-1}$. Hence, if the horizon forms close to the critical temperature the analogue Hawking temperature may be comparable with or even larger than the background fluid temperature.