Metastable quark-antiquark droplets within the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model

Abstract

Chemically non-equilibrated quark-antiquark matter is studied within the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model. The equations of state of non-strange (q=u,d) and strange (q=s) quark-antiquark systems are calculated in the mean-field approximation. The existence of metastable bound states with zero pressure is predicted at finite densities and temperatures less than about 50 MeV. It is shown that the minimum energy per particle occurs for symmetric systems, with equal densities of quarks and antiquarks. At T=0 these metastable states have quark number densities of about 0.5 fm^-3 for q=u,d and of 1 fm^-3 for q=s. A first order chiral phase transition is found at finite densities and temperatures. The critical temperature for this phase transition is approximately 75 MeV (90 MeV) for the non-strange (strange) baryon-free quark-antiquark matter. For realistic choices of parameters, the model does not predict the phase transition in chemically equilibrated systems. Possible decay channels of the metastable quark-antiquark droplets and their signatures in relativistic heavy-ion collisions are discussed.

31 pages, 11 PostScript figures, ReVTeX

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Cited by in corpus (10)

• Strange quark stars within the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model
• Nonstrange hybrid compact stars with color superconducting matter
• Antibaryons bound in nuclei
• Pseudoscalar neutral mesons in hot and dense matter
• Enhanced binding and cold compression of nuclei due to admixture of antibaryons
• Unusual bound states of quark matter within the NJL model
• Phase Transition in Interacting Boson System at Finite Temperatures
• Strange quark matter within the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model
• Constraints on possible phase transitions above the nuclear saturation density
• Clusters of matter and antimatter