Universality of phase diagrams in QCD and QCD-like theories

Abstract

We show the universality of phase diagrams in QCD and QCD-like theories through the large-Nc equivalence. The whole phase diagrams are identical between QCD at finite isospin chemical potential and SO(2Nc) and Sp(2Nc) gauge theories at finite baryon chemical potential. In the chiral limit, they are also identical to that of QCD at finite chiral chemical potential. Outside the pion or diquark condensed phase in these theories, the universality of phase diagrams is applicable to QCD at finite baryon chemical potential. We further argue that the universality may work approximately even for Nc = 3. Our result makes it possible to study QCD at finite baryon chemical potential and high temperature, especially the chiral phase transition, using sign-free theories on the lattice.