Wigner solution of the quark gap equation

TL;DR

This paper investigates the solutions of the quark gap equation within the NJL model, revealing the conditions under which Wigner and Nambu solutions exist and how they evolve with parameters like coupling strength, quark mass, temperature, and chemical potential.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the Wigner solution and its stability in the NJL model, including the concept of pseudo-Wigner solutions and their dependence on physical parameters.

Findings

Wigner solution exists at zero coupling in the chiral limit.

Pseudo-Wigner solutions become unstable as quark mass increases.

A second local minimum appears at high chemical potential, indicating phase transition features.

Abstract

Solutions and their evolutions of the quark gap equation are studied within the Nambu-Jona--Lasinio model, which is a basic issue for studying the QCD phase structure and locating the possible critical end point. It is shown that in the chiral limit case of the vacuum, chiral symmetry will hold if the coupling strength $G$ is small, then the system only has the Wigner solution at $M=0$. If increasing $G$, two symmetric minima will appear as the positive and `negative' Nambu solutions, however, the solution $M=0$ now corresponds to a maximum instead of a minimum of the thermodynamical potential, so is not a physically stable state anymore (we call it `pseudo-Wigner solution'). Besides, it is shown that as the current quark mass $m$ increases, the pseudo-Wigner solution will become negative, and disappear together with the negative Nambu solution if $m$ is large enough. Similar things happen if we increase the temperature or quark chemical potential $\mu$. Some interesting phenomenon is, from some $\mu$ a second local minimum will show up. As $\mu$ increases gradually, it will be stabler than the Nambu solution, survives even the Nambu solution disappears, and approaches $m$, which are just the features of the Wigner solution we expect.