Thermodynamics of dense hadronic matter in a parity doublet model

TL;DR

This paper investigates the thermodynamics of dense hadronic matter using a parity doublet model, revealing two phase transitions and the behavior of the pion decay constant at finite temperature and density.

Contribution

It introduces a parity doublet model that accurately reproduces nuclear ground state properties and predicts two distinct phase transitions in nuclear matter.

Findings

Identification of liquid-gas and chiral phase transitions.

Reduction of pion decay constant at intermediate chemical potentials.

Approach of the pion decay constant to zero at high chemical potential.

Abstract

We study thermodynamics of nuclear matter in a two-flavored parity doublet model within the mean field approximation. Parameters of the model are chosen to reproduce correctly the properties of the nuclear ground state. The model predicts two phase transitions in nuclear matter, a liquid-gas phase transition at normal nuclear density and a chiral transition at higher density. At finite temperature the pion decay constant exhibits a considerable reduction at intermediate values of chemical potential, which is traced back to the presence of the liquid-gas transition, and approaches zero at higher chemical potential associated with the chiral symmetry restoration. A "transition" from meson-rich to baryon-rich matter is also discussed.