Hot Quark Matter with an Axial Chemical Potential

TL;DR

This paper investigates the phase structure of hot quark matter with an axial chemical potential, exploring effects on the critical line, phase transitions, and topological susceptibility within Quantum Chromodynamics.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of the phase diagram of hot quark matter with an axial chemical potential, including effects of quark mass, vector interactions, and topological charge.

Findings

Curvature of the critical line at small $$ studied.

Effects of finite quark mass and vector interaction analyzed.

Topological susceptibility computed in the presence of topological charge.

Abstract

We analyze the phase diagram of hot quark matter in presence of an axial chemical potential, $\mu_5$. The latter is introduced to mimic the chirality transitions induced, in hot Quantum Chromodynamics, by the strong sphaleron configurations. In particular, we study the curvature of the critical line at small $\mu_5$, the effects of a finite quark mass and of a vector interaction. Moreover, we build the mixed phase at the first order phase transition line, and draw the phase diagram in the chiral density and temperature plane. We finally compute the full topological susceptibility in presence of a background of topological charge.