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arXiv · 1706.05385

Order parameters and color-flavor center symmetry in QCD

Aleksey Cherman·Srimoyee Sen·Mithat Unsal·Michael L. Wagman·Laurence G. Yaffe
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Abstract

Common lore suggests that $N$-color QCD with massive quarks has no useful order parameters which can be non-trivial at zero baryon density. However, such order parameters do exist when there are $n_f$ quark flavors with a common mass and $d\equiv\gcd(n_f,N) > 1$. These theories have a $\mathbb Z_d$ color-flavor center symmetry arising from intertwined color center transformations and cyclic flavor permutations. The symmetry realization depends on the temperature, baryon chemical potential and value of $n_f/N$, with implications for conformal window studies and dense quark matter.

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Aleksey Cherman, Srimoyee Sen, Mithat Unsal, Michael L. Wagman, Laurence G. Yaffe. 2017-06-16. Order parameters and color-flavor center symmetry in QCD. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.119.222001

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