Gluonic phases and phase diagram in neutral two flavor dense QCD

TL;DR

This paper explores various phases of neutral two-flavor dense quark matter, revealing that gluonic phases are energetically favored over a broad parameter range, with phase stability depending on coupling strength.

Contribution

It introduces and analyzes two gluonic phases in neutral two-flavor dense QCD, demonstrating their dynamical realization and importance in the phase diagram.

Findings

Gluonic phases are energetically favored in a wide parameter region.

LOFF phase is stable within a specific window of coupling strength.

2SC and normal phases dominate in strong and weak coupling regimes, respectively.

Abstract

A numerical analysis of several phases in the cold neutral two flavor dense quark matter is realized. In the analysis, besides the normal, single plane wave LOFF, and color superconducting 2SC/g2SC phases, we also include two gluonic phases (the gluonic cylindrical phase II and the gluonic color-spin locked one). It is shown that these two gluonic phases are dynamically realized and, on the basis of this analysis, the phase diagram with respect to the coupling strength in this medium is suggested. In particular, it is shown that the gluonic phases are energetically favorable in a wide region of the parameter space. On the other hand, there also exists a window where the LOFF phase is stable. The 2SC state and the normal one are realized in the strong and weak coupling regimes, respectively, as was expected.