# Influence of quark masses and strangeness degrees of freedom on inhomogeneous chiral phases

## TL;DR

This paper investigates how nonzero quark masses and strange quarks influence the presence and characteristics of inhomogeneous chiral phases in the QCD phase diagram, based on model calculations.

## Contribution

It extends previous NJL model studies by analyzing the effects of quark masses and strangeness on inhomogeneous chiral phases.

## Key findings

- Inclusion of quark masses modifies the inhomogeneous phase region.
- Strangeness degrees of freedom alter the phase boundary structure.
- The chiral critical point's location is affected by these factors.

## Abstract

Several model calculations of the QCD phase structure at nonzero temperature and density suggest that in certain regions of the phase diagram inhomogeneous condensates are favored over homogeneous ones. In particular, in a two-flavor NJL model in the chiral limit the would-be first-order boundary associated with the chiral phase transition is entirely covered by an inhomogeneous phase, characterized by a spatially modulated chiral condensate, whose tip coincides exactly with the chiral critical point. In this contribution we discuss how this result is altered by the inclusion of nonzero quark masses and strange quarks in the model.