Can a strong magnetic background modify the nature of the chiral transition in QCD?

TL;DR

This paper investigates how strong magnetic fields, similar to those in high-energy heavy ion collisions, can change the chiral phase transition in QCD from a crossover to a first-order transition, using a linear sigma model with quarks.

Contribution

It demonstrates that intense magnetic backgrounds can alter the nature of the chiral transition in QCD, providing a theoretical analysis within the linear sigma model with quarks.

Findings

Strong magnetic fields can turn the chiral transition into a first-order transition.

The effect is illustrated within the linear sigma model with quarks at one loop.

Magnetic fields comparable to those in heavy ion collisions significantly impact QCD phase transition dynamics.

Abstract

The presence of a strong magnetic background can modify the nature and the dynamics of the chiral phase transition at finite temperature: for high enough magnetic fields, comparable to the ones expected to be created in noncentral high-energy heavy ion collisions at RHIC and the LHC, the original crossover is turned into a first-order transition. We illustrate this effect within the linear sigma model with quarks to one loop in the ${\rm MS}$ scheme for $N_{f}=2$.