The effect of higher-order mesonic interactions on the chiral phase transition and the critical temperature

TL;DR

This paper investigates how including higher-order mesonic interactions in the linear sigma model affects the chiral phase transition and critical temperature at finite temperature, aligning results with lattice QCD.

Contribution

It introduces higher-order mesonic interactions into the linear sigma model and analyzes their impact on the chiral phase transition and critical temperature.

Findings

Chiral phase transition satisfies Goldstone theorem below critical temperature.

Critical temperature is reduced compared to the original model.

Results are consistent with lattice QCD findings.

Abstract

In the present work, higher-order mesonic interactions are included in the linear sigma model at a finite temperature. The effective potential is minimized in the calculations of the sigma and pion effective masses. The field equations have been solved in the mean-field approximation, by using the extended iteration method at a finite temperature. The order of chiral phase transition, the effective sigma and pion masses, and the effective mesonic potential are investigated as functions of the temperature. We find that the chiral phase transition satisfies the Goldstone theorem below the critical temperature point, when the minimization condition is satisfied in the chiral limit. The value of the critical temperature is reduced as compared with that of the original model in agreement with lattice QCD results. The modified model is compared to with models in other works.