Zero Temperature Chiral Phase Transition in (2+1)-Dimensional QED with a Chern-Simons Term

TL;DR

This paper studies how a Chern-Simons term affects the nature of the zero-temperature chiral phase transition in (2+1)-dimensional QED, revealing a first-order transition unlike the second-order transition without the Chern-Simons term.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the presence of a Chern-Simons term changes the phase transition in (2+1)D QED from second-order to first-order, providing new insights into topological effects on phase transitions.

Findings

The phase transition is first-order with a Chern-Simons term.

No light degrees of freedom exist at the critical point in the symmetric phase.

The transition differs fundamentally from the case without the Chern-Simons term.

Abstract

We investigate the zero temperature chiral phase transition in (2+1)-dimensional QED in the presence of a Chern-Simons term, changing the number of fermion flavors. In the symmetric phase, there are no light degrees of freedom even at the critical point. Unlike the case without a Chern-Simons term, the phase transition is first-order.