Strongly interacting matter in extreme magnetic fields

TL;DR

This comprehensive review discusses recent theoretical and phenomenological advances in understanding strongly interacting matter under extreme magnetic fields, covering QED, QCD, and astrophysical phenomena.

Contribution

It provides an up-to-date synthesis of developments in modeling and analyzing strongly interacting systems influenced by intense magnetic fields, integrating effective models and lattice QCD results.

Findings

Magnetic fields modify meson properties and induce anomalous transport effects.

Strong magnetic fields influence the QCD phase diagram and neutron star properties.

Recent theories and lattice simulations enhance understanding of matter under extreme conditions.

Abstract

Magnetic fields are ubiquitous across different physical systems of current interest; from the early Universe, compact astrophysical objects and heavy-ion collisions to condensed matter systems. A proper treatment of the effects produced by magnetic fields during the dynamical evolution of these systems, can help to understand observables that otherwise show a puzzling behavior. Furthermore, when these fields are comparable to or stronger than \Lambda_QCD, they serve as excellent probes to help elucidate the physics of strongly interacting matter under extreme conditions of temperature and density. In this work we provide a comprehensive review of recent developments on the description of QED and QCD systems where magnetic field driven effects are important. These include the modification of meson static properties such as masses and form factors, the chiral magnetic effect, the description of anomalous transport coefficients, superconductivity in extreme magnetic fields, the properties of neutron stars, the evolution of heavy-ion collisions, as well as effects on the QCD phase diagram. We describe recent theory and phenomenological developments using effective models as well as LQCD methods. The work represents a state-of-the-art review of the field, motivated by presentations and discussions during the "Workshop on Strongly Interacting Matter in Strong Electromagnetic Fields" that took place in the European Centre for Theoretical Studies in Nuclear Physics and Related Areas (ECT*) in the city of Trento, Italy, September 25-29, 2023.