Related papers: Comments on the Vacuum Orientations in QCD
We study the effects of CP violation on the nature of the chiral transition within the linear sigma model with two flavors of quarks. The finite-temperature effective potential containing contributions from nontrivial values for the…
In this talk, which popularizes some of our recent work, we provide novel insights into the bulk properties of light chiral quarks in a fixed Euclidean volume (e.g. lattice QCD). We show that the spontaneous breakdown of chiral symmetry…
The order parameter of the chiral phase transition is directly related to the infrared part of the spectrum of the QCD Dirac operator. This part of the spectrum follows from the low energy limit of QCD which is given by a partition function…
In the first part of the talk, I review what we know (or rather do not know) about the structure of the QCD vacuum in the presence of strange quarks. Chiral perturbation theory allows to study reactions of pions and kaons and to further…
It is shown that in vector-like gauge theories, such as QCD, and in the limit of a large number of colours Nc, the ordering pattern of narrow vector and axial-vector states at low energies is correlated with the size of the possible local…
I review some aspects of the interplay between anomalies and chiral symmetry. The quantum anomaly that breaks the U(1) axial symmetry of massless QCD leaves behind a flavor-singlet discrete chiral invariance. When the mass is turned on this…
Motivated by recent claims questioning the existence of strong CP violation, we present a pedagogical review of CP violation in Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). Using fundamental properties of the QCD partition function, we analyze the…
I discuss how the solution of the $U(1)_A$ problem of QCD through the existence of the $\theta$-vacuum gave rise to the strong CP problem. After examining various suggested solutions to this problem, I conclude that the only viable solution…
In Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) the eigenmodes of the Dirac operator with small absolute eigenvalues have a close relationship to the dynamical breaking of the chiral symmetry. In a simulation with two dynamical quarks, we study the…
We describe Scalar-Pseudoscalar partner degeneration at the QCD chiral transition in terms of the dominant low-energy physical states for the light quark sector. First, we obtain within model-independent one-loop Chiral Perturbation Theory…
We present a solution to the strong CP problem based on the identification of the theta angle with twice the CP violating phase present in the CKM quark matrix. This solution washes out all the unwanted issues stemming form the strong CP…
We discuss our study of QCD in the presence of CP-odd electromagnetic (e.m.) background fields. We investigate the propagation of the CP-odd term from the e.m. sector to the strong sector, inducing an effective $\theta$ term. We discuss the…
In this talk, I discuss how the changes in the QCD vacuum induced by increasing nuclear matter density affect nuclear properties under normal as well as extreme conditions. The quark condensate which is the order parameter for the mode in…
We study the chiral dynamics of vector mesons in two-flavor QCD in vacuum by utilizing a functional renormalization group approach. This allows us to capture the dynamical transition from the quark-gluon phase at high energies to the…
It is shown that when the mass matrix changes in orientation (rotates) in generation space for changing energy scale, then the masses of the lower generations are not given just by its eigenvalues. In particular, these masses need not be…
The vacuum of Quantum Chromodynamics is a superposition of degenerate states with different topological numbers that are connected by tunneling (the $\theta$-vacuum). The tunneling events are due to topologically non-trivial configurations…
Taking into account the quadratic in mass terms in the effective chiral lagrangian, we show that, at \theta \sim \pi, the theory with 2 light quarks of equal mass involves two degenerate vacuum states separated by a barrier. For three…
Dynamical chiral symmetry breaking is a nonperturbative phenomenon that may be studied using QCD's gap equation. Model-independent results can be obtained with a nonperturbative and symmetry preserving truncation. The gap equation yields…
I explain the concept that light quarks diffuse in the QCD vacuum following the spontaneous breakdown of chiral symmetry. I exploit the striking analogy to disordered electrons in metals, identifying, among others, the universal regime…
Light meson spectra are studied in a Dyson-Schwinger/Bethe-Salpeter approach to QCD. By varying the interaction strength of three sets of models for the quark-antiquark interaction, the transition from the chiral symmetric to the chirally…