New matter phases at high temperature and density

Abstract

It is widely accepted that a new phase structure will emerge in nuclear matter at high temperature and density. In this article the QCD (quantum chromodynamic) phase transitions are briefly reviewed from both theoretical and experimental aspects. Basing on the general principle of QCD and modern phase transition theory, we analyze potential phases in the strong interacting nuclear matter. The phase structure could be understood intuitively through the breaking and restoration of fundamental symmetries of QCD. In the space spanned by the temperature, baryon and isospin chemical potential there are different phases corresponding to three important symmetries, i.e. the color, chiral and isospin. At low temperature and density, the color and isospin symmetries are preserved, while the chiral one is spontaneously broken. At high temperature or density, the color or isospin or both of them would be broken as the chiral restoration. In order to explore the detailed structure of the phase diagram various theoretical approaches of studying the transitions are introduced, such as lattice QCD, mean field calculation basing on effective models, functional renormalization group and Dyson-Schwinger equation. In experiments there are two kinds of physics systems to realize conditions of QCD phase transitions: the relativistic heavy ion collisions and compact stars. Nuclear collision is the only way to approach hot QCD in laboratories on the earth. We focus on some robust probes to the quark gluon plasma formed in the early stage of the collisions. There are generally two types of the traditional signals which are focusing on the profile of the fire ball and the internal interaction of it respectively. For the first case we introduce collective flows as observables for the shape of fire ball. While for the second we review the jet quenching and the heavy flavor suppression. In the hot fire ball the classical transport theory should be modified by including quantum effects induced by the chiral restoration. This novel transport phenomenon of QCD at high temperature is named by the chiral anomalous transport. On the phase transitions at high density, we review the recent progress on color superconductivity and pion superfluidity. Color superconductivity is formed at high baryon chemical potential when quarks pair with each other into diquarks and condense. While pion superfluidity would emerge at high isospin chemical potential with pion condensate. Model studies suggest these states are able to exist in the core of compact star. By modifying the structure of them, such as the mass-radius relation, these states are expected to be identified by astronomical observation at higher precision. Currently dense systems are difficult to produce at main facilities of the world, such as RHIC (relativistic heavy ion collider) and LHC (large hadron collider) because of the designed high energy scale of the accelerators. Therefore it is a critical need for the facilities which could cover the low and medium energy region where the potential critical point and various phase structures would locate. Considering the running and constructing heavy ion facilities, the CSR (cooler-storage-ring) in Lanzhou and the high intensity HIAF (heavy-ion accelerator facility) in Huizhou, the properties of the new QCD phases and their realizations in nuclear collisions will be the new frontier of nuclear physics in China.