Thermal chiral and deconfining transitions in the presence of a magnetic background

TL;DR

This paper reviews how magnetic backgrounds influence the phase transitions of strong interactions, comparing effective models and lattice QCD results, and discusses implications for the nature of the deconfining temperature.

Contribution

It provides a comparative analysis of chiral and deconfining transitions under magnetic fields using various models and lattice data, highlighting the magnetic MIT bag model's success.

Findings

Magnetic fields affect the critical temperatures of phase transitions.

The magnetic MIT bag model aligns with recent lattice QCD results.

Large-Nc QCD predicts behavior consistent with lattice data if quarks are paramagnetic.

Abstract

We review the influence of a magnetic background on the phase diagram of strong interactions and how the chiral and deconfining transitions can be affected. First we summarize results for both transitions obtained in the framework of the linear sigma model coupled to quarks and to the Polyakov loop, and how they compare to other effective model approaches and to lattice QCD. Then we discuss the outcome of the magnetic MIT bag model that yields a behavior for the critical deconfining temperature which is compatible with recent lattice results and magnetic catalysis. The qualitative success of the magnetic MIT bag model hints to $T_{c}$ being a confinement-driven quantity, and leads us to the discussion of its behavior as predicted within the large-$N_{c}$ limit of QCD, which is also in line with the most recent lattice QCD results provided that quarks behave paramagnetically.