arXiv subjects

Vivian de la Incera

Publications and source records attributed to Vivian de la Incera.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2023

Axion-Polaritons in the Magnetic Dual Chiral Density Wave Phase of Dense QCD

We investigate the propagation of electromagnetic radiation in the magnetic dual chiral density wave (MDCDW) phase of dense quark matter. Considering the theory of low-energy fluctuations in this phase, we show how linearly polarized photons reaching the MDCDW medium couple to the fluctuation field to produce two hybridized modes of propagation that we call in analogy with similar phenomenon in condensed matter physics axion polaritons, one of them being gapless and the other gapped. The gapped mode's gap is proportional to the background magnetic field and inversely proportional to the amplitude of the inhomogeneous condensate. The generation of axion polaritons can be traced back to the presence of the chiral anomaly in the low-energy theory of the fluctuations. Considering the Primakoff effect in the MDCDW medium, we argued that axion polaritons can be generated inside quark stars bombarded by energetic photons coming from gamma-ray bursts and point out that this mechanism could serve to explain the missing pulsar paradox in the galaxy center.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Phase transitions and resilience of the MDCDW phase at finite temperature and density

We study the phase transitions of the magnetic dual chiral density wave (MDCDW). This spatially inhomogeneous phase emerges in cold, dense QCD in the presence of a strong magnetic field. Starting from the generalized GL expansion of the free energy, we derive several analytical formulas that enable fast numerical computation of the expansion coefficients to arbitrary order, allowing high levels of precision in the determination of the physical dynamical parameters, as well as in the transition curves in the temperature vs. chemical potential plane at different magnetic fields. At magnetic fields and temperatures compatible with neutron star (NS) conditions, the MDCDW remains favored over the symmetric ground state at all densities. The phase's "resilience" manifests in (1) a region of small but nonzero remnant mass and significant modulation at intermediate densities, originating in part from the nontrivial topology of the lowest Landau level, and (2) a region of increasing condensate parameters at high densities. Our analysis suggests the MDCDW condensate remains energetically favored at densities and temperatures much higher than previously considered, opening the possibility for this phase to be a viable candidate for the matter structure of even young neutron stars produced by NS mergers.

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arXiv2021

Tidal deformability of strange stars and the GW170817 event

In this work we consider strange stars formed by quark matter in the color-flavor-locked (CFL) phase of color superconductivity. The CFL phase is described by a Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model with four-fermion vector and diquark interaction channels. The effect of the color superconducting medium on the gluons are incorporated into the model by including the gluon self-energy in the thermodynamic potential. We construct parametrizations of the model by varying the vector coupling $G_V$ and comparing the results to the data on tidal deformability from the GW170817 event, the observational data on maximum masses from massive pulsars such as the MSP J0740+6620, and the mass/radius fits to NICER data for PSR J003+0451. Our results points out to windows for the $G_V$ parameter space of the model, with and without gluon effects included, that are compatible with all these astrophysical constraints, namely, $0.21<G_V/G_S<0.4$, and $0.02<G_V/G_S<0.1$, respectively. We also observe a strong correlation between the tidal deformabilites of the GW170817 event and $G_V$. Our results indicate that strange stars cannot be ruled out in collisions of compact binaries from the structural point of view.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2020

Absence of Landau-Peierls Instability in the Magnetic Dual Chiral Density Wave Phase of Dense QCD

We investigate the stability of the Magnetic Dual Chiral Density Wave (MDCDW) phase of cold and dense QCD against collective low-energy fluctuations of the order parameter. The appearance of additional structures in the system free-energy due to the explicit breaking of the rotational and isospin symmetries by the external magnetic field and the field-induced asymmetry of the lowest Landau level modes play a crucial role in the analysis. The new structures not only affect the condensate minimum equations, but also the spectrum of the thermal fluctuations, which lacks the transverse soft modes that typically affect single-modulated inhomogeneous phases in the absence of a magnetic field. Consequently, the long-range order of the MDCDW phase is preserved at finite temperature. The lack of Landau-Peierls instabilities in the MDCDW phase makes this inhomogeneous phase of dense quark matter particularly relevant for the physics of neutron stars.

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arXiv2017

Anomalous Transport Properties of Dense QCD in a Magnetic Field

Despite recent advancements in the study and understanding of the phase diagram of strongly interacting matter, the region of high baryonic densities and low temperatures has remained difficult to reach in the lab. Things are expected to change with the planned HIC experiments at FAIR in Germany and NICA in Russia, which will open a window to the high-density-low-temperature segment of the QCD phase map, providing a unique opportunity to test the validity of model calculations that have predicted the formation of spatially inhomogeneous phases with broken chiral symmetry at intermediate-to-high densities. Such a density region is also especially relevant for the physics of neutron stars, as they have cores that can have several times the nuclear saturation density. On the other hand, strong magnetic fields, whose presence is fairly common in HIC and in neutron stars, can affect the properties of these exotic phases and lead to signatures potentially observable in these two settings. In this paper, I examine the anomalous transport properties produced by the spectral asymmetry of the lowest Landau level (LLL) in a QCD-inspired NJL model with a background magnetic field that exhibits chiral symmetry breaking at high density via the formation of a Dual Chiral Density Wave (DCDW) condensate. It turns out that in this model the electromagnetic interactions are described by the axion electrodynamics equations and there is a dissipationless Hall current.

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arXiv2015

BCS-BEC Crossover and Stability in a Nambu-Jona-Lasinio Model with Diquark-Diquark Repulsion

We investigate the equation of state (EoS) along the BCS-BEC crossover for a quark system described by a Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model with multi-fermion interactions. Together with attractive channels for particle-antiparticle ($\Gs$) and particle-particle ($\Gd$) interactions, a multi-fermion channel with coupling $λ$ that accounts for the diquark-diquark repulsion is also considered. The chiral and diquark condensates are found in the mean-field approximation for different values of the coupling constants. The parameter values where the BCS-BEC crossover can take place are found, and the EoS is used to identify the stability region where the BEC regime has positive pressure. We discuss how the particle density and the repulsive diquark-diquark interaction affect the stability window in the $\Gs-\Gd$ plane and find the profile of the pressure versus the density for various values of $λ$ and $\Gd$. The effects of $λ$ and $\Gd$ in the BCS-BEC crossover tend to compensate each other, allowing for a feasible region of densities where the crossover can occur with positive pressure. These results, although mainly qualitative, should serve as a preliminary step in the microscopic analysis required to determine the feasibility of the BCS-BEC crossover and its realization in more realistic models of dense QCD that can be relevant for applications to neutron stars.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2014

Induced magnetic moment in the magnetic catalysis of chiral symmetry breaking

The chiral symmetry breaking in a Nambu-Jona-Lasinio effective model of quarks in the presence of a magnetic field is investigated. We show that new interaction tensor channels open up via Fierz identities due to the explicit breaking of the rotational symmetry by the magnetic field. We demonstrate that the magnetic catalysis of chiral symmetry breaking leads to the generation of two independent condensates, the conventional chiral condensate and a spin-one condensate. While the chiral condensate generates, as usual, a dynamical fermion mass, the new condensate enters as a dynamical anomalous magnetic moment in the dispersion of the quasiparticles. Since the pair, formed by a quark and an antiquark with opposite spins, possesses a resultant magnetic moment, an external magnetic field can align it giving rise to a net magnetic moment for the ground state. The two condensates contribute to the effective mass of the LLL quasiparticles in such a way that the critical temperature for chiral symmetry restoration becomes enhanced.

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arXiv2014

Inhomogeneous phases and chiral symmetry breaking

In the past few years, a growing number of compelling arguments, backed up by model calculations, pointed out that the intermediate-density region of the QCD phase diagram may be characterized by the formation of inhomogeneous condensates which spontaneously break some of the spatial symmetries of the theory. In the following we provide a brief recapitulation of these arguments and describe some recent results in a 3+1-dimensional QCD-inspired NJL model with quark-hole condensation in the form of a plane wave in the scalar and tensor channels. This model exhibits particular features in close analogy to its 1+1-dimensional counterpart, most notably an asymmetric spectral density and the arising of an anomalous contribution to the free energy.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2014

New look at the QCD ground state in a magnetic field

We explore chiral symmetry breaking in a magnetic field within a Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model of interacting massless quarks including tensor channels. We show that the new interaction channels open up via Fierz identities due to the explicit breaking of the rotational symmetry by the magnetic field. We demonstrate that the magnetic catalysis of chiral symmetry breaking leads to the generation of two independent condensates, the conventional chiral condensate and a spin-one condensate. While the chiral condensate generates a dynamical fermion mass, the new condensate gives rise to a dynamical anomalous magnetic moment for the fermions. As a consequence, the spectrum of the excitations in all Landau levels, except the lowest one, exhibits Zeeman splitting. Since the pair, formed by a quark and an antiquark with opposite spins, possesses a resultant magnetic moment, an external magnetic field can align it giving rise to a net magnetic moment for the ground state. This is the physical interpretation of the spin-one condensate. Our results show that the magnetically catalyzed ground state in QCD is actually richer than previously thought. The two condensates contribute to the effective mass of the LLL quasiparticles in such a way that the critical temperature for chiral symmetry restoration becomes enhanced.

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arXiv2013

Magnetic Field Effects in Fermion Pairings

This paper considers various fermion pairings of interest for the QCD phases. The effects of an external magnetic field on the pairing mechanisms, on the realization of new condensates, and on the properties of the magnetized phases are all explored and discussed.

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arXiv2013

Quarkyonic Chiral Spirals in the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio Approach

We explore the inhomogeneous QCD phases at finite density and temperature using a (3+1)-dimensional Nambu-Jona-Lasinio (NJL) model in the large Nc limit with an additional attractive tensor-tensor interaction channel. For single modulated solutions, the problem reduces to solving the gap equation of a Chiral Gross-Neveu (NJL2) theory, whose minimum solution is a periodic array of chirally twisted kinks. At zero temperature, the minimum solution reduces to the quarkyonic chiral spiral found in quarkyonic matter. The connection between the quarkyonic matter and our (3+1)-dimensional NJL model is rooted on the fact that the first reduces to (1+1)-dimensional QCD and the second to the NJL2 theory, both of which have continuous chiral symmetry and asymptotic freedom. Our findings can be useful to obtain a reliable qualitative picture of the QCD phase diagram and the location of the QCD critical point in the technically challenging region of intermediate densities and temperatures.

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arXiv2012

Magnetism in Dense Quark Matter

We review the mechanisms via which an external magnetic field can affect the ground state of cold and dense quark matter. In the absence of a magnetic field, at asymptotically high densities, cold quark matter is in the Color-Flavor-Locked (CFL) phase of color superconductivity characterized by three scales: the superconducting gap, the gluon Meissner mass, and the baryonic chemical potential. When an applied magnetic field becomes comparable with each of these scales, new phases and/or condensates may emerge. They include the magnetic CFL (MCFL) phase that becomes relevant for fields of the order of the gap scale; the paramagnetic CFL, important when the field is of the order of the Meissner mass, and a spin-one condensate associated to the magnetic moment of the Cooper pairs, significant at fields of the order of the chemical potential. We discuss the equation of state (EoS) of MCFL matter for a large range of field values and consider possible applications of the magnetic effects on dense quark matter to the astrophysics of compact stars.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2012

Non-perturbative Euler-Heisenberg Lagrangian and Paraelectricity in Magnetized Massless QED

In this paper we calculate the non-perturbative Euler-Heisenberg Lagrangian for massless QED in a strong magnetic field $H$, where the breaking of the chiral symmetry is dynamically catalyzed by the external magnetic field via the formation of an electro-positron condensate. This chiral condensate leads to the generation of dynamical parameters that have to be found as solutions of non-perturbative Schwinger-Dyson equations. Since the electron-positron pairing mechanism leading to the breaking of the chiral symmetry is mainly dominated by the contributions from the infrared region of momenta much smaller than $\sqrt{eH}$, the magnetic field introduces a dynamical ultraviolet cutoff in the theory that also enters in the non-perturbative Euler-Heisenberg action. Using this action, we show that the system exhibits a significant paraelectricity in the direction parallel to the magnetic field. The nonperturbative nature of this effect is reflected in the non-analytic dependence of the obtained electric susceptibility on the fine-structure constant. The strong paraelectricity in the field direction is linked to the orientation of the electric dipole moments of the pairs that form the chiral condensate. The large electric susceptibility can be used to detect the realization of the magnetic catalysis of chiral symmetry breaking in physical systems.

hep-th↗

arXiv2012

Quarkyonic Chiral Spirals in a Magnetic Field

We discuss the formation of quarkyonic chiral spirals in the presence of a magnetic field. The explicit breaking of the rotational symmetry by the external magnetic field gives rise to an additional chiral spiral that varies along the field direction and rotates in the chiral space between pion and magnetic moment components.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2012

Photon Self-Energy and Electric Susceptibility in a Magnetized Three-flavor Color Superconductor

We study the photon self-energy for the in-medium photon in a three-flavor color superconductor in the presence of a magnetic field. At strong magnetic field, the quark dynamics becomes $(1+1)$-dimensional and the self-energy tensor only has longitudinal components. In this approximation there is no Debye or Meissner screenings at zero temperature, but the electric susceptibility is nonzero and highly anisotropic. In the direction transverse to the applied field, the electric susceptibility is the same as in vacuum, while in the longitudinal direction it depends on the magnitude of the magnetic field. Such a behavior is a realization in cold-dense QCD of the magnetoelectric effect, which was first discovered in condensed matter physics. The magnetic permeability remains equal to that in vacuum for both transverse and longitudinal components. We discuss the importance of the Pauli-Villars regularization to get meaningful physical results in the infrared limit of the polarization operator. We also find the covariant form of the polarization operator in the reduced (1+1)-D space of the lowest Landau level and proves its transversality.

hep-th↗

arXiv2012

Magnetoelectric Effect in Strongly Magnetized Color Superconductivity

The effect of a strong magnetic field on the electric polarization of a three-flavor color superconducting medium is investigated. We found that the electric susceptibility of this strongly magnetized medium is highly anisotropic. In the direction transverse to the applied magnetic field the susceptibility reduces to that of the vacuum, while in the longitudinal direction it depends on the magnetic field and decreases with it. The nature of this behavior is associated with the field's dependence of the Cooper pairs' coherence length, which plays the role of the electric dipole length. The field's dependence of the electric polarization is interpreted as the realization of the magnetoelectric effect in cold-dense quark matter.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2011

Reply to comment on "Equation of state of dense and magnetized fermion system"

A Comment [1] to our recent article [2], expressed criticism on our estimate of the maximum magnetic field that can exist inside a neutron star and on the pressure anisotropy we found for a magnetized gas of fermions. These two points are relevant for the physics of neutron stars. With our reply we attempt not only to address the Comment's criticisms, but for the sake of the reader's understanding, we also try to clarify the connection between our and some literature's results mentioned in the comment.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2011

Magnetic Tuning of the Relativistic BCS-BEC Crossover

The effect of an applied magnetic field in the crossover from Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) to Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) pairing regimes is investigated. We use a model of relativistic fermions and bosons inspired by those previously used in the context of cold fermionic atoms and in the magnetic-color-flavor-locking phase of color superconductivity. It turns out that as with cold atom systems, an applied magnetic field can also tune the BCS-BEC crossover in the relativistic case. We find that no matter what the initial state is at B=0, for large enough magnetic fields the system always settles into a pure BCS regime. In contrast to the atomic case, the magnetic field tuning of the crossover in the relativistic system is not connected to a Feshbach resonance, but to the relative numbers of Landau levels with either BEC or BCS type of dispersion relations that are occupied at each magnetic field strength.

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