Nonuniform phases in the 't Hooft extended Nambu--Jona-Lasinio Model

TL;DR

This paper explores non-uniform phases in cold dense quark matter using an extended Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model, revealing how flavor mixing and strange quark mass promote these phases.

Contribution

It introduces the analysis of non-uniform phases in the 't Hooft extended NJL model with finite strange quark mass, highlighting the role of flavor mixing.

Findings

Non-uniform phases are more likely with flavor mixing.

Finite strange quark mass extends the domain of non-uniform phases.

Coupling strength variations influence phase stability.

Abstract

The phase diagram of cold dense quark matter is studied using the 't Hooft extended Nambu--Jona-Lasinio Model applied to the light quark sector with a finite current mass for the strange quark (up and down are considered in the chiral limit). By relaxing the traditional uniformity assumptions and considering a modulated light quark condensate background we investigate the possible existence of non-uniform phases in this region of the phase diagram. The effects of changes in the coupling strengths of the model are studied and it is shown that the inclusion of flavour mixing combined with the finite current mass of the strange quark catalyses the appearance of the non-uniform phases, extending the domain for their existence.