Chiral Hadronic Mean Field Model including Quark Degrees of Freedom

TL;DR

This paper introduces a nonlinear hadronic SU(3) sigma-omega mean field model with quark degrees of freedom, incorporating the Polyakov loop to study the QCD phase diagram and phase transitions in strongly interacting matter.

Contribution

It presents a novel combined hadronic and quark model using Polyakov loop dynamics to analyze the QCD phase diagram across various temperatures and densities.

Findings

The model reproduces known hadronic behavior at low T and μ.

It predicts a phase transition consistent with lattice QCD data.

Quark effects significantly influence the phase diagram.

Abstract

In an approach inspired by Polyakov loop extended NJL models, we present a nonlinear hadronic SU(3) sigma-omega mean field model augmented by quark degrees of freedom. By introducing the effective Polyakov loop related scalar field \Phi and an associated effective potential, the model includes all known hadronic degrees of freedom at low temperatures and densities as well as a quark phase at high temperatures and densities. Hadrons in the model exhibit a finite volume in order to suppress baryons at high T and \mu. This ensures that the right asymptotic degrees of freedom are attained for the description of strongly interacting matter and allows to study the QCD phase diagram in a wide range of temperatures and chemical potentials. Therefore, with this model it is possible to study the phase transition of chiral restoration and deconfinement. In this paper, the impact of quarks on the resulting phase diagram is shown. The results from the chiral model are compared to recent data from lattice QCD.