Quarkyonic matter in lattice QCD at strong coupling

TL;DR

This paper investigates the phase diagram of quark matter using strong coupling lattice QCD, revealing potential quarkyonic matter at finite density and temperature, consistent with large N_c predictions.

Contribution

It introduces finite coupling effects into lattice QCD studies of the phase diagram, providing evidence for quarkyonic matter at N_c=3.

Findings

Possible existence of quarkyonic matter at N_c=3

Partial chiral restoration at medium density

Finite coupling effects influence phase structure

Abstract

We study the phase diagram of quark matter at finite temperature and density in the strong coupling lattice QCD with one species of unrooted staggered fermions including finite coupling ($1/g^2$) effects for color SU($N_c$). We find that we may have partially chiral restored medium density matter at $N_c=3$, which would correspond to the quarkyonic matter suggested at large $N_c$.