Second order chiral phase transition in three flavor quantum chromodynamics?

TL;DR

This paper investigates the nature of the chiral phase transition in three-flavor QCD, finding evidence for a second-order transition contrary to previous beliefs, with implications for symmetry restoration.

Contribution

It identifies a fixed point in the renormalization group flow that supports a second-order phase transition in three-flavor QCD, challenging prior assumptions.

Findings

Discovery of a fixed point enabling second-order transition

Contradicts common belief about transition order

Suggests axial U(1) symmetry restoration at transition

Abstract

We calculate the renormalization group flows of all perturbatively renormalizable interactions in the three-dimensional Ginzburg-Landau potential for the chiral phase transition of three-flavor quantum chromodynamics. On the contrary to the common belief we find a fixed point in the system that is able to describe a second-order phase transition in the infrared. This shows that long-standing assumptions on the transition order might be false. If the transition is indeed of second-order, our results may hint that the axial $U(1)$ symmetry restores at the transition temperature.