Chiral instabilities & the fate of chirality imbalance in non-Abelian plasmas

TL;DR

This study uses real-time lattice simulations to investigate chiral plasma instabilities and axial charge transfer in non-Abelian plasmas, revealing that topological sphaleron transitions dominate chirality transfer, unlike in Abelian plasmas.

Contribution

First principles simulation demonstrating that sphaleron transitions primarily drive chirality transfer in non-Abelian plasmas, contrasting with Abelian cases.

Findings

Chirality transfer is dominated by sphaleron transitions in non-Abelian plasmas.

Differences in axial charge dynamics between Abelian and non-Abelian plasmas are elucidated.

Implications for anomalous transport phenomena like the chiral magnetic effect are discussed.

Abstract

We present a first principles study of chiral plasma instabilities and axial charge transfer in non-Abelian plasmas with a strong gauge-matter coupling $g^2N_f=64$, by performing $3+1$ D real-time classical-statistical lattice simulation with dynamical fermions. We explicitly demonstrate for the first time that -- unlike in an Abelian plasma -- the transfer of chirality from the matter sector to the gauge fields occurs predominantly due to topological sphaleron transitions. We elaborate on the similarities and differences of the axial charge dynamics in cold Abelian $U(1)$ and non-Abelian $SU(2)$ plasmas, and comment on the implications of our findings for the study of anomalous transport phenomena, such as the chiral magnetic effect in QCD matter.