English

Supercooled Goldstone Bosons at the QCD Chiral Phase Transition

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology 2025-12-15 v2 High Energy Physics - Lattice Nuclear Experiment Nuclear Theory

Abstract

We discuss a universal non-equilibrium enhancement of long-wavelength Goldstone bosons induced by quenches to the broken phase in Model G -- the dynamical universality class of an O(4)O(4)-antiferromagnet and the chiral phase transition in QCD. Scaling arguments for the coarsening dynamics describing the formation of the chiral condensate predict a parametric enhancement in the infrared spectra of Goldstones, a prediction confirmed by stochastic simulations of the transition. The details of the enhancement are determined by the non-linear dynamics of a superfluid effective theory, which is a limit of Model G reflecting the broken O(4)O(4) symmetry. Our results translate to a parametric enhancement of low-momentum pions in heavy-ion collisions at the LHC, which are underpredicted in current hydrodynamic models without critical dynamics.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2504.03516,
  title  = {Supercooled Goldstone Bosons at the QCD Chiral Phase Transition},
  author = {Adrien Florio and Eduardo Grossi and Aleksas Mazeliauskas and Alexander Soloviev and Derek Teaney},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2504.03516},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

7 pages, 4 figures; published version, see the companion paper "Quenching through the QCD chiral phase transition" arXiv:2504.03514