Vector interaction, charge neutrality, and multiple chiral critical-point structures

Abstract

We investigate the combined effect of the repulsive vector interaction and the positive electric chemical potential on the chiral phase transition by considering neutral color superconductivity. The chiral condensate, diquark condensate, and quark number densities are solved in both two-flavor and two-plus-one-flavor Nambu-Jona-Lasinio models with the so called Kobayashi-Maskawa-'t Hooft term under the charge-neutrality constraint. We demonstrate that multiple chiral critical-point structures always exist in the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model within the self-consistent mean-field approximation, and that the number of chiral critical points can vary from zero to four, which is dependent on the magnitudes of vector interaction and the diquark coupling. The difference between the dynamical chemical potentials induced by vector interaction for u and d quarks can effectively reduce the Fermi sphere disparity between the two flavors of diquark pairing. Thus the vector interaction works to significantly suppress the unstable region associated with chromomagnetic instability in the phase of neutral asymmetric homogeneous color superconductivity.