Coexistence of color superconductivity and chiral symmetry breaking within the NJL model

Abstract

The phase diagram for quark matter is investigated within a simple Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model without vector correlations. It is found that the phase structure in the temperature-density plane depends sensitively on the parametrization of the model. We present two schemes of parametrization of the model where within the first one a first order phase transition from a phase with broken chiral symmetry to a color superconducting phase for temperatures below the triple point at T_t= 55 MeV occurs whereas for the second one a second order phase transition for temperatures below T_t = 7 MeV is found. In the latter case, there is also a coexistence phase of broken chiral symmetry with color superconductivity, which is a new finding within this class of models. Possible consequences for the phenomenology of the QCD phase transition at high baryon densities are discussed.