Confinement-deconfinement Phase Transition Research Articles

Gravitational Waves of Holographic QCD Phase Transition with Hyperscaling Violation

In this paper, we study the gravitational waves of holographic QCD phase transition with hyperscaling violation. We consider an Einstein–Maxwell Dilaton background and discuss the confinement–deconfinement phase transition between thermally charged AdS and AdS black holes. We find that hyperscaling violation reduces the phase transition temperature. In a further study, we discuss the effect of hyperscaling violation on the GW spectrum. We found that the hyperscaling violation exponent suppresses the peak frequency of the total GW spectrum. Moreover, the results of the GW spectrum may be detected by IPTA, SKA, BBO, and NANOGrav. We also find that the hyperscaling violation exponent suppresses the peak frequency of the bubble-collision spectrum h2Ωenv. Hyperscaling violation enhances the energy densities of the sound wave spectrum h2Ωsw and the MHD turbulence spectrum h2Ωturb. The total GW spectrum is dominated by the contribution of the bubble collision in runaway bubbles case.

Rotating SU(2) gluon matter and deconfinement at finite temperature

In this work a non-abelian gauge theory is reformulated in a rotating frame. With this new formalism, the influence of the background rotation on the color deconfinement transition for a pure SU(2) gluon system has been studied. The KvBLL caloron, which is a color neutral and topologically nontrivial solution of Yang-Mills equation at finite temperature, is reexamined under rotation and adopted as the confined vacuum of such a system. With rotation-modified solutions of the caloron's constituent solitons, i.e. dyons, the non-perturbative part of effective potential of the rotating system has been obtained. Combining with the perturbative potential by Gaussian fluctuations, the critical temperature of confinement-deconfinement phase transition is investigated. It is found that neither the rotational semi-classical potential nor Gaussian fluctuations can confine color charges more tightly when the rotation becomes faster. While only a stronger coupling constant is able to make the critical temperature increase with angular velocity, as what indicated in lattice simulations. And it is found a non-monotonic dependence of the critical temperature on the angular velocity is established because of the competition between these two contrary contributions.

Gravitational waves from composite dark sectors

We study under which conditions a first-order phase transition in a composite dark sector can yield an observable stochastic gravitational-wave signal. To this end, we employ the Linear-Sigma model featuring Nf = 3, 4, 5 flavours and perform a Cornwall-Jackiw-Tomboulis computation also accounting for the effects of the Polyakov loop. The model allows us to investigate the chiral phase transition in regimes that can mimic QCD-like theories incorporating in addition composite dynamics associated with the effects of confinement-deconfinement phase transition. A further benefit of this approach is that it allows to study the limit in which the effective interactions are weak. We show that strong first-order phase transitions occur for weak effective couplings of the composite sector leading to gravitational-wave signals potentially detectable at future experimental facilities.

Complexity, scaling, and a phase transition

We investigate the holographic complexity of CFTs compactified on a circle with a Wilson line, dual to magnetized solitons in AdS4 and AdS5. These theories have a confinement-deconfinement phase transition as a function of the Wilson line, and the complexity of formation acts as an order parameter for this transition. Through explicit calculation, we show that proposed complexity functionals based on volume and action obey a scaling relation with radius of the circle and further prove that a broad family of potential complexity functionals obeys this scaling behavior. As a result, we conjecture that the scaling law applies to the complexity of conformal field theories on a circle in more general circumstances.

The phase transition of Rastall AdS black hole with cloud of strings and quintessence

In this paper, we introduce the black hole solution in Rastall theory of gravity in the presence of quintessence and the cloud of strings. Our investigations show that this model meets only second-order phase transition in four dimensions. While both the first- and second-order phase transitions are seen in five dimensions. Therefore, according to the AdS/CFT duality, the confinement–deconfinement phase transition only occurs in five dimensions for this model.

Deconfinement and error thresholds in holography

We study the error threshold properties of holographic quantum error-correcting codes. We demonstrate that holographic CFTs admit an algebraic threshold, which is related to the confinement-deconfinement phase transition. We then apply geometric intuition from holography and the Hawking-Page phase transition to motivate the CFT result, and comment on potential extensions to other confining theories.

Fracton topological order at finite temperature

As new kinds of stabilizer code models, fracton models have been promising in realizing quantum memory or quantum hard drives. However, it has been shown that the fracton topological order of 3D fracton models occurs only at zero temperature. In this Letter, we show that higher dimensional fracton models can support a fracton topological order below a nonzero critical temperature $T_c$. Focusing on a typical 4D X-cube model, we show that there is a finite critical temperature $T_c$ by analyzing its free energy from duality. We also obtained the expectation value of the 't Hooft loops in the 4D X-cube model, which directly shows a confinement-deconfinement phase transition at finite temperature. This finite-temperature phase transition can be understood as spontaneously breaking the $\mathbb{Z}_2$ one-form subsystem symmetry. Moreover, we propose a new no-go theorem for finite-temperature quantum fracton topological order.

Note on stability and holographic subregion complexity

We study holographic subregion complexity in a spatially anisotropic field theory, which expresses a confinement-deconfinement phase transition. Its holographic dual is a five-dimensional anisotropic holographic model characterized by a Van der Waals-like phase transition between small and large black holes. We propose a new interpretation from the informational perspective to determine the stable and unstable thermodynamically solutions. According to this proposal, the states which need (more) less information to be specified characterize the (un) stable solutions. We similarly offer an interpretation to determine the stable and unstable solutions based on the resource of a computational machine, such that the solutions are (un) stable if computational resource (decreases) increases with the increase of temperature. We observe that the effect of anisotropy on holographic subregion complexity is decreasing. This decreasing effect can be interpreted by considering a whole closed system consisting of the state and its environment in which the complexity of the mixed state decreases and complexity of the environment increases.

Strongly coupled matrix theory and stochastic quantization: A new approach to holographic dualities

Stochastic quantization provides an alternate approach to the computation of quantum observables, by stochastically sampling phase space in a path integral. Furthermore, the stochastic variational method can provide analytical control over the strong coupling regime of a quantum field theory -- provided one has a decent qualitative guess at the form of certain observables at strong coupling. In the context of the holographic duality, the strong coupling regime of a Yang-Mills theory can capture gravitational dynamics. This can provide enough insight to guide a stochastic variational ansatz. We demonstrate this in the bosonic Banks-Fischler-Shenker-Susskind Matrix theory. We compute a two-point function at all values of coupling using the variational method showing agreement with lattice numerical computations and capturing the confinement-deconfinement phase transition at strong coupling. This opens up a new realm of possibilities for exploring the holographic duality and emergent geometry.

Dark confinement-deconfinement phase transition: a roadmap from Polyakov loop models to gravitational waves

We explore the confinement-deconfinement phase transition (PT) of the first order (FO) arising in SU(N) pure Yang-Mills theory, based on Polyakov loop models (PLMs), in light of the induced gravitational wave (GW) spectra. We demonstrate that the PLMs with the Haar measure term, involving models successful in QCD with N = 3, are potentially incompatible with the large N scaling for the thermodynamic quantities and the latent heat at around the criticality of the FOPT reported from the lattice simulations. We then propose a couple of models of polynomial form, which we call the 4-6 PLM (with four- and six-point interactions among the basic PL fields which have center charge 1) and 4-8 PLM (with four- and eight-point interactions), and discuss how such models can naturally arise in the presence of a heavy PL with charge 2. We show that those models give the consistent thermodynamic and large N properties at around the criticality. The predicted GW spectra are shown to have high enough sensitivity to be probed in the future prospected interferometers such as BBO and DECIGO.

NANOGrav signal from first-order confinement-deconfinement phase transition in different QCD-matter scenarios

Recently, an indicative evidence of a stochastic process, reported by the NANOGrav Collaboration based on the analysis of 12.5-year pulsar timing array data which might be interpreted as a potential stochastic gravitational wave signal, has aroused the keen interest of theorists. The first-order color charge confinement phase transition at the QCD scale could be one of the cosmological sources for the NANOGrav signal. If the phase transition is flavor dependent and happens sequentially, it is important to find that what kind of QCD matter in which the first-order confinement-deconfinement phase transition happens is more likely to be the potential source of the NANOGrav signal during the evolution of the universe. In this paper, we would like to illustrate that the NANOGrav signal could be generated from confinement-deconfinement transition in either heavy static quarks with a zero baryon chemical potential, or quarks with a finite baryon chemical potential. In contrast, the gluon confinement could not possibly be the source for the NANOGrav signal according to the current observation. Future observation will help to distinguish between different scenarios.

Chiral symmetry restoration and deconfinement in the contact interaction model of quarks with parallel electric and magnetic fields

We study the impact of steady, homogeneous, and external parallel electric and magnetic field strengths ( ) on the chiral symmetry breaking-restoration and confinement-deconfinement phase transition. We also sketch the phase diagram of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) at a finite temperature T and in the presence of background fields. The unified formalism for this study is based on the Schwinger-Dyson equations, symmetry preserving vector-vector contact interaction model of quarks, and an optimal time regularization scheme. At , in the purely magnetic case (i.e., ), we observe the well-known magnetic catalysis effect. However, in a pure electric field background ( ), the electric field tends to restore the chiral symmetry and deconfinement above the pseudo-critical electric field . In the presence of both and , we determine the magnetic catalysis effect in the particular region where dominates over , whereas we observe the chiral inhibition (or electric chiral rotation) effect when overshadows eB. At finite T, in the pure electric field case, the phenomenon of inverse electric catalysis appears to exist in the proposed model. Conversely, for a pure magnetic field background, we observe the magnetic catalysis effect in the mean-field approximation and inverse magnetic catalysis with -dependent coupling. The combined effects of and on the pseudo-critical yields an inverse electromagnetic catalysis, with and without an -dependent effective coupling of the model. The findings of this study agree well with the already predicted results obtained via lattice simulations and other reliable effective models of QCD.

Dilepton production from magnetized quark matter with an anomalous magnetic moment of the quarks using a three-flavor PNJL model

Dilepton production from hot, dense and magnetized quark matter is studied using the three-flavor Polyakov loop extended Nambu--Jona-Lasinio (PNJL) model in which the anomalous magnetic moment (AMM) of the quarks is also taken into consideration. This is done by first evaluating the thermo-magnetic spectral function of the vector current correlator employing the real time formalism of finite temperature field theory and the Schwinger proper time formalism. The constituent quark mass which goes as an input in the expression of the dilepton production rate (DPR), has been calculated using the three-flavor PNJL model employing Pauli-Villiars (PV) regularization. The obtained constituent quark mass being strongly dependent on the temperature, density, magnetic field and AMM of the quarks, captures the effect of `strong' interactions specifically around the (pseudo) chiral and confinement-deconfinement phase transition regions. The analytic structure of the spectral function in the complex energy plane has been analyzed in detail and a non-trivial Landau cut is found in the physical kinematic domains resulting from the scattering of the Landau quantized quark/antiquark with the photon which is purely a finite magnetic field effect. Due to the emergence of the Landau cut along with the usual unitary cut, the DPR is found to be largely enhanced in the low invariant mass region. Owing to the magnetic field and AMM dependence of the thresholds of these cuts, we find that the kinematically forbidden gap between the Unitary and Landau cuts vanishes at sufficiently high temperature, density and magnetic field leading to the generation of a continuous spectrum of dilepton emission over the whole invariant mass region. In order to see the effects of strangeness and confinement-deconfinement, the rates are compared with the three-flavor NJL and the two-flavor NJL and PNJL models.

Phase transitions in perturbative walking dynamics

In this paper, we investigate the dynamics of the confinement-deconfinement phase transition in a toy model where the walking dynamics is realized perturbatively. We study the properties of the phase transition focusing on the possible cosmological signatures it can provide. Interestingly the model is well under perturbative control only when the mass of the lightest field — the dilaton/scalon is much lighter than the rest of the fields and the phase transition proceeds slowly leading to strong signals in the stochastic gravitational wave spectrum.

Note on holographic subregion complexity and QCD phase transition

Using holographic subregion complexity, we study the confinement-deconfinement phase transition of quantum chromodynamics. In the model we consider here, we observe a connection between the potential energy of probe meson and the behavior of its complexity. Moreover, near the critical point, at which the phase transition takes place, our numerical calculations indicate that we need less information to specify a meson in the non-conformal vacuum than in the conformal one, despite the fact that the non-conformal vacuum has larger energy!

Subregion complexity and confinement–deconfinement transition in a holographic QCD model

We study the subregion complexity in a semi-analytical holographic QCD model. Two cases with different warped factor are considered and both can realize confinement–deconfinement transition. By studying the behavior of the renormalized holographic complexity density Cˆ versus the subregion length scale ℓ, we find that for both cases, Cˆ always experiences a discontinuity at certain critical value ℓc in confinement phases, while it is always continuous in deconfinement phases. This property may be seen as a signal to characterize confinement or deconfinement phases. The behavior of Cˆ versus the temperature and chemical potential is also investigated and our results show that Cˆ exhibits behavior characterizing the type of the transition. That is, it experiences a discontinuity at the transition temperature for μ<μc where first-order confinement–deconfinement phase transition happens, while it is always continuous for μ>μc where the transition turns into a turnover. These results imply that the renormalized holographic complexity density may be used as a good parameter to characterize the corresponding phase structures.

Strongly Coupled Anisotropic Gauge Theories and Holography.

We initiate a nonperturbative study of anisotropic, nonconformal, and confining gauge theories that are holographically realized in gravity by generic Einstein-axion-dilaton systems. In the vacuum, our solutions describe renormalization group flows from a conformal field theory in the UV to generic scaling solutions in the IR with generic hyperscaling violation and dynamical exponents θ and z. We formulate a generalization of the holographic c theorem to the anisotropic case. At finite temperature, we discover that the anisotropic deformation reduces the confinement-deconfinement phase transition temperature suggesting a possible alternative explanation of inverse magnetic catalysis solely based on anisotropy. We also study transport and diffusion properties in anisotropic theories and observe, in particular, that the butterfly velocity that characterizes both diffusion and growth of chaos transverse to the anisotropic direction saturates a constant value in the IR which can exceed the bound given by the conformal value.

Gravitation waves from QCD and electroweak phase transitions

We investigate the gravitation waves produced from QCD and electroweak phase transitions in the early universe by using a 5-dimension holographic QCD model and a holographic technicolor model. The dynamical holographic QCD model is to describe the pure gluon system, where a first order confinement-deconfinement phase transition can happen at the critical temperature around 250 MeV. The minimal holographic technicolor model is introduced to model the strong dynamics of electroweak, it can give a first order electroweak phase transition at the critical temperature around 100-360 GeV. We find that for both GW signals produced from QCD and EW phase transitions, in the peak frequency region, the dominant contribution comes from the sound waves, while away from the peak frequency region the contribution from the bubble collision is dominant. The peak frequency of gravitation wave determined by the QCD phase transition is located around 10−7 Hz which is within the detectability of FAST and SKA, and the peak frequency of gravitational wave predicted by EW phase transition is located at 0.002 – 0.007 Hz, which might be detectable by BBO, DECIGO, LISA and ELISA.

Center phase transition from matter propagators in (scalar) QCD

Novel order parameters for the confinement-deconfinement phase transition of quenched QCD and fundamentally charged scalar QCD are presented. Similar to the well-known dual condensate, they are defined via generalized matter propagators with U(1)-valued boundary conditions. The order parameters are easily accessible with functional methods. Their validity and accessibility is explicitly demonstrated by numerical studies of the Dyson–Schwinger equations for the matter propagators. Even in the case of heavy scalar matter, where the propagator does not show a signature of the phase transition, a discontinuity due to the transition can be extracted in the order parameters, establishing also fundamentally charged scalar matter as a probe for color confinement.

Holographic QCD, entanglement entropy, and critical temperature

Based on gauge-gravity duality, by using holographic entanglement entropy, we have done a phenomenological study to probe confinement-deconfinement phase transition in the QCD-like gauge theory. Our outcomes are in perfect agreement with the expected results, qualitatively and quantitatively. We find out that the (holographic) entanglement entropy is a reliable order parameter for probing the phase transition.