Lie-algebraic classification of effective theories with enhanced soft limits

A great deal of effort has recently been invested in developing methods of calculating scattering amplitudes that bypass the traditional construction based on Lagrangians and Feynman rules. Motivated by this progress, we investigate the long-wavelength behavior of scattering amplitudes of massless scalar particles: Nambu-Goldstone (NG) bosons. The low-energy dynamics of NG bosons is governed by the underlying spontaneously broken symmetry, which likewise allows one to bypass the Lagrangian and connect the scaling of the scattering amplitudes directly to the Lie algebra of the symmetry generators. We focus on theories with enhanced soft limits, where the scattering amplitudes scale with a higher power of momentum than expected based on the mere existence of Adler's zero. Our approach is complementary to that developed recently by Cheung et al., and in the first step we reproduce their result. That is, as far as Lorentz-invariant theories with a single physical NG boson are concerned, we find no other nontrivial theories featuring enhanced soft limits beyond the already well-known ones: the Galileon and the Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) scalar. Next, we show that in a certain sense, these theories do not admit a nontrivial generalization to non-Abelian internal symmetries. Namely, for compact internal symmetry groups, all NG bosons featuring enhanced soft limits necessarily belong to the center of the group. For noncompact symmetry groups such as the ISO($n$) group featured by some multi-Galileon theories, these NG bosons then necessarily belong to an Abelian normal subgroup. The Lie-algebraic consistency constraints admit two infinite classes of solutions, generalizing the known multi-Galileon and multi-flavor DBI theories.Comment: 1+48 pages; v2: minor changes and some references added, matches version published in JHE

Chiral soliton lattice in QCD-like theories

Recently, it has been shown that the ground state of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) in sufficiently strong magnetic fields and at moderate baryon number chemical potential carries a crystalline condensate of neutral pions: the chiral soliton lattice (CSL). While the result was obtained in a model-independent manner using effective field theory techniques, its realization from first principles using lattice Monte Carlo simulation is hampered by the infamous sign problem. Here we show that CSL, or a similar inhomogeneous phase, also appears in the phase diagram of a class of vector-like gauge theories that do not suffer from the sign problem even in the presence of a baryon chemical potential and external magnetic field. We also show that the onset of nonuniform order manifests itself already in the adjacent homogeneous Bose-Einstein-condensation phase through a characteristic roton-like minimum in the dispersion relation of the lowest-lying quasiparticle mode. Last but not least, our work gives a class of explicit counterexamples to the long-standing conjecture that positivity of the determinant of the Dirac operator (that is, absence of the sign problem) in a vector-like gauge theory precludes spontaneous breaking of translational invariance, and thus implies the absence of inhomogeneous phases in the phase diagram of the theory.Comment: 1+26 pages; v2 matches published versio

How does color neutrality affect collective modes in color superconductors?

We revisit the issue of color neutrality in effective model descriptions of dense quark matter based on global color symmetry. While the equilibrium thermodynamics of such models is now well understood, we examine the collective modes, focusing on the fluctuations of the order parameter. We point out that the constraint of color neutrality must be carefully generalized in order to obtain physically consistent and well-defined results. Particularly important is that the collective modes associated with order parameter fluctuations couple to charge density fluctuations in the neutral medium. We start by proving explicitly that, in contrast to claims made previously in literature, Nambu-Goldstone bosons of spontaneously broken global color symmetry remain exactly massless even after imposing the color neutrality constraint. As the next step, we make the argument general by using effective field theory. We then employ the high-density approximation to calculate the couplings in the effective Lagrangian and thus the Nambu-Goldstone boson dispersion relations.Comment: 14 pages, REVTeX 4.1, 1 eps figur

Two-color quark matter: U(1)_A restoration, superfluidity, and quarkyonic phase

We discuss the phase structure of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) with two colors and two flavors of light quarks. This is motivated by the increasing interest in the QCD phase diagram as follows: (1) The QCD critical point search has been under intensive dispute and its location and existence suffer from uncertainty of effective U(1)_A symmetry restoration. (2) A new phase called quarkyonic matter is drawing theoretical and experimental attention but it is not clear whether it can coexist with diquark condensation. We point out that two-color QCD is nontrivial enough to contain essential ingredients for (1) and (2) both, and most importantly, is a system without the sign problem in numerical simulations on the lattice. We adopt the two-flavor Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model extended with the two-color Polyakov loop and make quantitative predictions which can be tested by lattice simulations.Comment: 14 pages, REVTeX4, 12 eps figures; v2: version published in Phys. Rev. D; v3: an error in the Appendix fixed, Fig. 9 modified accordingl

Dynamical fermion mass generation by a strong Yukawa interaction

We consider a model with global Abelian chiral symmetry of two massless fermion fields interacting with a complex massive scalar field. We argue that the Schwinger-Dyson equations for the fermion and boson propagators admit ultraviolet-finite chiral-symmetry-breaking solutions provided the Yukawa couplings are large enough. The fermions acquire masses and the elementary excitations of the complex scalar field are the two real spin-zero particles with different masses. As a necessary consequence of the dynamical chiral symmetry breakdown both in the fermion and scalar sectors, one massless pseudoscalar Nambu--Goldstone boson appears in the spectrum as a collective excitation of both the fermion and the boson fields. Its effective couplings to the fermion and boson fields are calculable.Comment: 9 pages, REVTeX4, uses feynmp, 1 eps figur

Chiral soliton lattice at next-to-leading order

We compute the free energy of the chiral soliton lattice state in quantum chromodynamics (QCD) at nonzero baryon chemical potential, temperature and external magnetic field at the next-to-leading order of chiral perturbation theory. This extends previous work where only a special limit of the chiral soliton lattice, the domain wall, was considered. Our results therefore serve as a consistency check of the previously established phase diagram of QCD at moderate magnetic fields and temperature and sub-nuclear baryon chemical potentials. Moreover, we use the result for the free energy to determine the magnetization carried by the domain wall and the chiral soliton lattice, both at the next-to-leading order.Comment: 42 pages, 5 figure

Goldstone boson counting in linear sigma models with chemical potential

We analyze the effects of finite chemical potential on spontaneous breaking of internal symmetries within the class of relativistic field theories described by the linear sigma model. Special attention is paid to the emergence of ``abnormal'' Goldstone bosons with quadratic dispersion relation. We show that their presence is tightly connected to nonzero density of the Noether charges, and formulate a general counting rule. The general results are demonstrated on an SU(3)xU(1) invariant model with an SU(3)-sextet scalar field, which describes one of the color-superconducting phases of QCD.Comment: 10 pages, REVTeX4, 4 eps figures, v2: general discussion in Sec. IV expanded and improved, references added, other minor corrections throughout the tex

Anomaly-Induced Inhomogeneous Phase in Quark Matter without the Sign Problem

We demonstrate the existence of an anomaly-induced inhomogeneous phase in a class of vector-like gauge theories without sign problem, thus disproving the long-standing conjecture that the absence of sign problem precludes spontaneous breaking of translational invariance. The presence of the phase in the two-color modification of quantum chromodynamics can be tested by an independent nonperturbative evaluation of the neutral pion decay constant as a function of external magnetic field. Our results provide a benchmark for future lattice studies of inhomogeneous phases in dense quark matter.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures; v2: matches text to appear in Phys. Rev. Let