2,098 research outputs found

    Magnetic Catalysis: A Review

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    We give an overview of the magnetic catalysis phenomenon. In the framework of quantum field theory, magnetic catalysis is broadly defined as an enhancement of dynamical symmetry breaking by an external magnetic field. We start from a brief discussion of spontaneous symmetry breaking and the role of a magnetic field in its a dynamics. This is followed by a detailed presentation of the essential features of the phenomenon. In particular, we emphasize that the dimensional reduction plays a profound role in the pairing dynamics in a magnetic field. Using the general nature of underlying physics and its robustness with respect to interaction types and model content, we argue that magnetic catalysis is a universal and model-independent phenomenon. In support of this claim, we show how magnetic catalysis is realized in various models with short-range and long-range interactions. We argue that the general nature of the phenomenon implies a wide range of potential applications: from certain types of solid state systems to models in cosmology, particle and nuclear physics. We finish the review with general remarks about magnetic catalysis and an outlook for future research.Comment: 37 pages, to appear in Lect. Notes Phys. "Strongly interacting matter in magnetic fields" (Springer), edited by D. Kharzeev, K. Landsteiner, A. Schmitt, H.-U. Yee. Version 2: references adde

    Aspects of the pseudo Chiral Magnetic Effect in 2D Weyl-Dirac Matter

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    A connection is established between the continuum limit of the low-energy tight-binding description of graphene immersed in an in-plane magnetic field and the Chiral Magnetic Effect in Quantum Chromodynamics. A combination of mass gaps that explicitly breaks the equivalence of the Dirac cones, favoring an imbalance of pseudo-chiralities, is the essential ingredient to generate a non-dissipative electric current along the external field. Currents, number densities and condensates generated from this setup are investigated for different hierarchies of the energy scales involved.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures. Several text improvements. Accepted for publication in European Physical Journal

    Quantum Electrodynamics in Two-Dimensions at Finite Temperature. Thermofield Bosonization Approach

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    The Schwinger model at finite temperature is analyzed using the Thermofield Dynamics formalism. The operator solution due to Lowenstein and Swieca is generalized to the case of finite temperature within the thermofield bosonization approach. The general properties of the statistical-mechanical ensemble averages of observables in the Hilbert subspace of gauge invariant thermal states are discussed. The bare charge and chirality of the Fermi thermofields are screened, giving rise to an infinite number of mutually orthogonal thermal ground states. One consequence of the bare charge and chirality selection rule at finite temperature is that there are innumerably many thermal vacuum states with the same total charge and chirality of the doubled system. The fermion charge and chirality selection rules at finite temperature turn out to imply the existence of a family of thermal theta vacua states parametrized with the same number of parameters as in zero temperature case. We compute the thermal theta-vacuum expectation value of the mass operator and show that the analytic expression of the chiral condensate for any temperature is easily obtained within this approach, as well as, the corresponding high-temperature behavior
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