The 38th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory

PT symmetry and patterns in finite-density QCD

27 Jul 2021, 21:45

15m

Oral presentation QCD at nonzero Temperature and Density QCD at nonzero Temperature and Density

Speaker

Stella Schindler (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Description

We study the phase structure of effective models of finite-density QCD using analytic and lattice simulation techniques developed for the study of non-Hermitian and $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric QFTs. Finite-density QCD is symmetric under the combined operation of the charge and complex conjugation operators $\mathcal{CK}$, which falls into the class of so-called generalized $\mathcal{PT}$ symmetries. We show that $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric quantum field theories can support patterned ground-state field configurations in the vicinity of a critical endpoint. We apply our methods to a lattice heavy quark model at nonzero chemical potential that displays patterning behavior for a range of parameters. We derive a simple approximate criterion for the formation of these patterns, which can be used with lattice results.

Presentation materials

93_T4Th_Stella_Schindler

schindler-lattice-2021.pdf