Properties of the electroweak vacuum versus the QCD-vacuum in strong magnetic fields

TL;DR

This paper investigates how strong magnetic fields influence the properties of the electroweak and QCD vacua, revealing potential superconducting and superfluid states with complex condensate structures.

Contribution

It provides a detailed calculation of the vacuum structure under strong magnetic fields, highlighting the emergence of mixed condensates and their implications for exotic superconducting states.

Findings

Charged vector bosons condense in strong magnetic fields.

Neutral mesons also condense, forming a mixed lattice structure.

The vacuum exhibits properties of both superconductivity and superfluidity.

Abstract

In strongly magnetized backgrounds, electrically charged vector bosons can condense. When considering the rho-meson sector of QCD, this results in the existence of a superconducting state with Abrikosov vortices. As a next order effect, also the neutral mesons condense and one expects the resulting lattice to be a mix of neutral and charged condensates, opening a possibility to the existence of a superfluid property. We will show how the detailed structure of the vacuum can be calculated and which implications it has on the nature of the exotic superconducting state.