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Mathematical Physics Seminar - Robert Pisarski, PhD; Department of Physics, Brookhaven National Laboratory
Apr 30, 2024
02:30 PM - 03:30 PM
30 North Dubuque Street, Iowa City, IA 52242
Why the chiral phase transition for three light flavors is so interesting
Robert Pisarski, PhD; Department of Physics, Brookhaven National Laboratory
In QCD, the eta prime meson is heavy because the breaking of the anomalous U_A(1) symmetry is large. A simple argument suggests that it should then be easy to see a first order chiral transition for light quarks. Nevertheless, numerical simulations on the lattice see no evidence for such a first order chiral transition. I suggest that this occurs because the usual power counting for anomalous operators is more subtle than expected. This leads to numerous predictions for different numbers of quark flavors.
The case of a single flavor is especially interesting. It also suggests novel experimental signals.
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