The $\theta$-angle and axion physics of two-color QCD at fixed baryon charge. Part I

TL;DR

This paper explores how the $ heta$-angle and axion dynamics influence the vacuum structure, phase transitions, and spectrum of two-color QCD with nonzero baryon charge, revealing novel phases and guiding future simulations.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the effects of the $ heta$-angle on vacuum properties, phase transitions, and spectrum in two-color QCD at finite baryon charge, including the discovery of new phases.

Findings

Rich vacuum structure with novel phases

Critical chemical potential depends on $ heta$ angle

Characterization of phase transition orders

Abstract

We analyze the impact of the $\theta$-angle and axion dynamics for two-color (in fact any $Sp(2N)$) QCD at nonzero baryon charge and as a function of the number of matter fields on the vacuum properties, the pattern of chiral symmetry breaking as well as the spectrum of the theory. We show that the vacuum acquires a rich structure when the underlying $CP$ violating topological operator is added to the theory. We discover novel phases and analyse the order of their transitions characterizing the dynamics of the odd and even number of flavours. We further determine the critical chemical potential as function of the $\theta$ angle separating the normal from the superfluid phase of the theory. Our results will guide numerical simulations and novel tests of the model's dynamics. The results are also expected to better inform phenomenological applications of the model ranging from composite Higgs physics to strongly interacting massive dark matter models featuring number changing interactions. In the companion work \cite{PartII} we repurpose and upgrade the approach to determine the impact of the $\theta$-angle and axion physics on non-perturbative near conformal dynamics related to the fixed baryon charge sector.