Can a strong magnetic background modify the nature of the chiral transition in QCD?
arXiv:0810.3693 · doi:10.1016/j.nuclphysa.2009.01.026
Abstract
The presence of a strong magnetic background can modify the nature and the dynamics of the chiral phase transition at finite temperature: for high enough magnetic fields, comparable to the ones expected to be created in noncentral high-energy heavy ion collisions at RHIC and the LHC, the original crossover is turned into a first-order transition. We illustrate this effect within the linear sigma model with quarks to one loop in the ${\rm MS}$ scheme for $N_{f}=2$.
4 pages, 2 figures; to appear in the Proceedings of Strong and Electroweak Matter 2008 (SEWM08), August 26-29, Amsterdam, The Netherlands