Influence of finite volume and magnetic field effects on the QCD phase diagram

TL;DR

This study uses the Polyakov linear sigma model to explore how finite volume and magnetic fields influence the QCD phase diagram, revealing shifts in the phase boundary that impact heavy ion collision analyses.

Contribution

It provides new insights into how finite volume and magnetic fields alter the quark-hadron phase boundary in the QCD phase diagram.

Findings

Magnetic fields shift the phase boundary to lower chemical potential and temperature.

Decreasing system volume shifts the phase boundary to higher chemical potential and temperature.

Results have implications for interpreting heavy ion collision data.

Abstract

The Polyakov linear sigma model (PLSM) is used to investigate the respective influence of a finite volume and a magnetic field on the quark-hadron phase boundary in the plane of baryon chemical potential ($\mu_{B}$) vs. temperature ($T$) of the QCD phase diagram. The calculated results indicate sizable shifts of the quark-hadron phase boundary to lower values of $(\mu_{B}~\text{and}~T)$ for increasing magnetic field strength, and an opposite shift to higher values of $(\mu_{B}~\text{and}~T)$ for decreasing system volume. Such shifts could have important implications for extraction of the thermodynamic properties of the QCD phase diagram from heavy ion data.