The vacuum tunnelling and the crossover of deconfinement in Friedberg-Lee model

TL;DR

This paper investigates vacuum tunnelling in the Friedberg-Lee model and suggests that tunnelling effects can induce a crossover in deconfinement, potentially altering the nature of the phase transition.

Contribution

It derives the tunnelling coefficient in the Friedberg-Lee model using path integral methods and explores its impact on deconfinement phase transition.

Findings

Tunnelling coefficient calculated via path integral.

Tunnelling can lead to deconfinement without a first order transition.

Possible change from first order to crossover in deconfinement.

Abstract

We have discussed the vacuum tunnelling in Friedberg-Lee model. The tunnelling coefficient is derived in the field configuration space by calculating the transition amplitude using the path integral under the stationary phase approximation and the dilute instanton gas approximation. By studying the tunnelling effect between the two degenerating vacuums at the critical temperature and chemical potential, we find that the system could be deconfined by tunnelling, which could possibly change the first order deconfinement phase transition to crossover.