Chiral and deconfinement transitions in spin-polarized quark matter

Abstract

We investigate the influence of spin polarization in strongly interacting matter by introducing a finite spin potential, ${\mu }_{\Sigma }$, which effectively controls the spin density of the system without requiring rotation or specific boundary conditions. Inspired by recent lattice QCD simulations that incorporated such a potential, we implement this approach within an effective QCD framework. Our results show that increasing spin polarization leads to a simultaneous decrease in both the chiral and deconfinement restoration temperatures. The resulting phase structure is qualitatively consistent with lattice findings, and notably, we observe the emergence of a first-order chiral phase transition at low temperature. These results suggest that spin-polarized environments can significantly impact the QCD phase diagram and offer a controlled route for studying spin effects in hot and dense matter.

Comments: Some typos have been corrected and comments have been added. Matches the version accepted in Physical Review D