Abstract
We give a pedagogical review of the properties of the various meson condensation phases triggered by a large isospin or strangeness imbalance. We argue that these phases are extremely interesting and powerful playground for exploring the properties of hadronic matter. The reason is that they are realized in a regime in which various theoretical methods overlap with increasingly precise numerical lattice QCD simulations, providing insight on the properties of color confinement and of chiral symmetry breaking.
Highlights
The great success of the Standard Model of particle physics relies on the possibility of making accurate and testable predictions that are in agreement with increasingly precise experimental data
The confinement and the χSB mechanisms are uninteresting because they are details of a robust theoretical construction, sooner or later they will be fully understood; for others, unraveling the origin of these mechanisms is of the utmost importance for a comprehensive understanding of quantum chromodynamics (QCD); for all, it is still unclear which is the path that can bring us to a full understanding of these mechanisms
This brief review is about one those paths, exploring the behavior of matter when there is an asymmetry in the number of particles with different isospin and/or strangeness
Summary
The great success of the Standard Model of particle physics relies on the possibility of making accurate and testable predictions that are in agreement with increasingly precise experimental data. My view is that any path, as far it is physically sound, should be explored and tested This brief review is about one those paths, exploring the behavior of matter when there is an asymmetry in the number of particles with different isospin and/or strangeness. The total baryonic density is determined by μB, while μI describes the isospin asymmetry, say due to a different number of up and down quarks If it were possible we would have added a further axis, μS, indicating the strangeness content. A negative isospin chemical potential does instead favor the formation of π− states
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