Related papers: Constraints on possible phase transitions above th…
The crossover from hadronic to quark matter is understood to be both a deconfinement as well as a chiral symmetry restoring transition. Here, we study observables related to both aspects using lattice simulations: the Polyakov loop and its…
Recent studies based on non-perturbative lattice Monte-Carlo solutions of Quantum Chromodynamics, the theory of strong interactions, demonstrated that at high temperature there is a phase change from confined hadronic matter to a deconfined…
In this conference proceeding, I discuss in detail the deconfinement to quark matter that takes place at large densities and/or temperatures. The first-order phase transition that is assumed to appear beyond a critical point gives rise to…
The phase structure of baryonic matter is investigated with focus on the role of fluctuations beyond the mean-field approximation. The prototype test case studied is the chiral nucleon-meson model, with added comments on the chiral…
Baryon-loops vacuum contribution in renormalized models like the Linear sigma model and the Walecka model give rise to large unnatural interaction coefficients, indicating that the quantum vacuum is not adequately described by long-range…
We investigate the properties of mixed stars formed by hadronic and quark matter in $\beta$-equilibrium described by appropriate equations of state (EOS) in the framework of relativistic mean-field theory. We use the non- linear Walecka…
The Quark Meson Coupling Model which describes nuclear matter as a collection of non-overlapping MIT bags interacting by the self-consistent exchange of scalar and vector mesons is used to study nuclear matter at finite temperature. In its…
We study the QCD phase diagram, in particular we study the critical points of the two main QCD phase transitions, confinement and chiral symmetry breaking. Confinement drives chiral symmetry breaking, and, due to the finite quark mass, at…
The Chiral Dilaton Model, where baryons arise as non-topological solitons built from the interaction of quarks and chiral mesons, shows in the high density low temperature regime a two phase scenario in the nuclear matter phase diagram.…
We present numerical results on bubble profiles, nucleation rates and time evolution for a weakly first-order quark-hadron phase transition in different expansion scenarios. We confirm the standard picture of a cosmological first-order…
The two-Equation of State (EoS) model is used to describe the hadron-quark phase transition in asymmetric matter formed at high density in heavy-ion collisions. For the quark phase, the three-flavor Nambu--Jona-Lasinio (NJL) effective…
One of the confident predictions of QCD is that at sufficiently high temperature and/or density, hadronic matter should undergo a thermodynamic phase transition to a colour deconfined state of matter - popularly called the Quark-Gluon…
In an approach inspired by Polyakov loop extended NJL models, we present a nonlinear hadronic SU(3) sigma-omega mean field model augmented by quark degrees of freedom. By introducing the effective Polyakov loop related scalar field \Phi and…
We argue that hadron multiplicities in central high energy nucleus-nucleus collisions are established very close to the phase boundary between hadronic and quark matter. In the hadronic picture this can be described by multi-particle…
We study the phase diagram of a generalized chiral SU(3)-flavor model in mean-field approximation. In particular, the influence of the baryon resonances, and their couplings to the scalar and vector fields, on the characteristics of the…
The QCD transition from a hadronic to a quark-gluon plasma phase is a cross-over at vanishing/small baryo-chemical potential, while at higher chemical potentials it is argued that it becomes of first order, ending with a critical end-point.…
We review in detail recent advances in our understanding of the phase structure and the phase transitions of hadronic matter in strong magnetic fields $B$ and zero quark chemical potentials $\mu_f$. Many aspects of QCD are described using…
Phase diagram of strongly interacting matter is discussed within the exactly solvable statistical model of the quark-gluon bags. The model predicts two phases of matter: the hadron gas at a low temperature T and baryonic chemical potential…
With combined hopping parameter and strong coupling expansions, we calculate a dimensionally reduced Polyakov-loop effective theory valid for heavy quarks at nonzero temperature and arbitrary chemical potential. We numerically compute the…
Heavy-ion collisions performed in the beam energy range accessible by the NICA collider facility are expected to produce systems of extreme net-baryon densities and can thus reach yet unexplored regions of the QCD phase diagram. Here, one…