Inhomogeneous islands and continents in the Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model

Abstract

We present some recent developments in our study of inhomogeneous chiral symmetry breaking phases in the Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model. First, we investigate different kinds of one- and two-dimensional spatial modulations of the chiral condensate within the inhomogeneous "island" and compare their free energies. Next, we employ the Polyakov-loop extended version of the model to study the effects of varying the number of colors on the inhomogeneous region. Finally, we discuss the properties of an inhomogeneous "continent" which appears in our model at higher chemical potentials, and analyze its origin.

Comments: 18 pages, Presented at the HIC for FAIR Workshop and XXVIII Max Born Symposium "Three Days on Quarkyonic Island", Wroclaw, Poland, May 19-21, 2011. v2: Fig. 3 corrected, conclusions unchanged