# A first order transition and parity violation in a color superconductor

## Abstract

In cold, dense quark matter, quarks of different flavor can form Cooper pairs which are anti-triplets under color and have total spin $`J=0`$. The transition to a phase where strange quarks condense with either up or down quarks is driven first order by the Coleman-Weinberg mechanism. At densities sufficiently high to (effectively) restore the axial $`U(1)`$ symmetry, then relative to the ordinary vacuum, the condensation of up with down quarks (effectively) breaks parity spontaneously.

By Cooper’s theorem, a Fermi surface is destabilized by the presence of an arbitrarily small attractive interaction . For quark-quark scattering, where quarks are triplets under $`SU(3)_c`$ color, single gluon exchange is attractive in the anti-triplet channel, and repulsive in the sextet. Thus it is reasonable to expect that at sufficiently high densities, a Fermi sea of quarks forms a quark-quark condensate in the color anti-triplet channel which spontaneously breaks the color gauge symmetry. In heavy ion collisions or quark stars, “two plus one” flavors of quarks contribute to the Fermi sea: up and down, which are very light, and strange, which is not as light. In pioneering work, Bailin and Love  showed that for three colors and two flavors, color superconductivity breaks color, but not flavor. Recently, Alford, Rajagopal, and Wilczek made the fascinating suggestion that for three colors and three flavors, color superconductivity breaks both color and flavor.

In this Letter we consider the nature of the color superconducting phase in cold, dense quark matter, assuming that condensation occurs in a channel with total spin $`\stackrel{}{J}=\stackrel{}{L}+\stackrel{}{S}=0`$. Energetically, if condensation with $`J=0`$ can occur, it probably is favored over $`J1`$. For three colors and either two or three flavors, $`J=0`$ condensation is possible, and is indicated by most  model calculations.

Under this assumption, we are able to make two general statements about $`QCD`$ at nonzero quark density, where the chemical potential $`\mu 0`$, and zero temperature, $`T=0`$. First, that the transition to the color superconducting phase where strange quarks condense with either up or down quarks is of first order. Second, at very high densities, where we can be certain that the axial $`U(1)`$ symmetry is approximately restored, the condensate of up with down quarks spontaneously violates parity. Our arguments are general, so we cannot say either how strongly first order this color superconducting phase transition is, nor how dense quark matter must be in order to produce parity violation.

A fermion-fermion condensate is naturally formed by pairing at opposite edges of the Fermi sea, with momenta $`\stackrel{}{p}`$ and $`\stackrel{}{p}`$. In an ordinary superconductor, the charge of the electron-electron condensate is twice that of the electron. Analogously, in a color superconductor the quark-quark condensate has two color and two flavor indices:

$$\varphi _{ab}^{ij}(\mathrm{\Gamma })=q_a^i(\stackrel{}{p})^TC\mathrm{\Gamma }q_b^j(\stackrel{}{p});$$
(1)   
$`q`$ is the quark field, $`q^T`$ the Dirac transpose, $`C`$ the charge conjugation matrix, and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ a Dirac matrix. The $`SU(3)_c`$ color indices for a quark in the fundamental representation are $`i,j=1,2,3`$; the flavor indices are $`a,b`$. For now we ignore the color and flavor structure, to consider how many spin zero condensates there are.

An electron-electron condensate with spin zero is formed by pairing spin up with spin down. Since electrons in an ordinary superconductor are non-relativistic, spin decouples from the direction of motion, and there is just one condensate.

Massless quarks are eigenstates of chirality, and so come in two types, left and right handed. As massless fields, their spin points either along or opposite to the direction of motion, corresponding to positive or negative helicity, respectively. Thus massless quarks have four types of spin zero condensates, two from chirality, times two from helicity:

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }=𝒫_{r,\mathrm{}}\times 𝒫_\pm =\frac{1}{2}(1\pm \gamma _5)\times \frac{1}{2}(1\pm \gamma _5\gamma _0\stackrel{}{\gamma }\widehat{p});$$
(2)   
$`𝒫_{r,\mathrm{}}`$ is the projector for chirality, $`𝒫_\pm `$ that for helicity. It is an exercise in Dirac algebra to show that these four condensates represent the pairing of right handed, positive helicity quarks with themselves, etc. .

The total spin $`\stackrel{}{J}=\stackrel{}{L}+\stackrel{}{S}`$, so $`J=0`$ can arise either from $`L=S=0`$ or $`L=S=1`$. The signal for $`L=S=1`$ is the appearance of $`\widehat{p}=\stackrel{}{p}/p`$ in the helicity projector.

For a quark-quark condensate of massless quarks, Fermi statistics requires that the condensate field is symmetric in the simultaneous interchange of both color and flavor indices:

$$\varphi _{ab}^{ij}(\mathrm{\Gamma })=+\varphi _{ba}^{ji}(\mathrm{\Gamma }).$$
(3)   
We use this constraint shortly to classify the possible representations of color and flavor. In an $`SU(3)_c`$ gauge theory, $`N`$ flavors of massless quarks are invariant under the symmetries of local $`SU(3)_c`$ color and global $`SU(N)_{\mathrm{}}\times SU(N)_r`$ flavor. Then $`\varphi _{ab}^{ij}(𝒫_r𝒫_\pm )`$ transforms under $`SU(3)_c\times SU(N)_r`$, and $`\varphi _{ab}^{ij}(𝒫_{\mathrm{}}𝒫_{})`$ under $`SU(3)_c\times SU(N)_{\mathrm{}}`$.

Parity flips both chirality and helicity, so these condensates are not eigenstates of parity. The condensates with $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=\gamma _5`$ and $`\gamma _5\gamma _0\stackrel{}{\gamma }\widehat{p}`$ are parity even, $`J^P=0^+`$, while $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=1`$ and $`\gamma _0\stackrel{}{\gamma }\widehat{p}`$ are parity odd, $`J^P=0^{}`$.

At nonzero mass there are four new condensates . In  we show that two of these condensates are symmetric under the interchange of color and flavor indices, as in (3), while the other two are antisymmetric, $`\varphi _{ab}^{ij}(\mathrm{\Gamma })=\varphi _{ba}^{ji}(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$. The symmetric condensates are $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=\gamma _5\gamma _0`$ and $`\stackrel{}{\gamma }\widehat{p}`$; the antisymmetric condensates are $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=\gamma _5\stackrel{}{\gamma }\widehat{p}`$ and $`\gamma _0`$. In terms of parity, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=\gamma _5\gamma _0`$ and $`\gamma _5\stackrel{}{\gamma }\widehat{p}`$ are $`0^+`$, while $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=\stackrel{}{\gamma }\widehat{p}`$ and $`\gamma _0`$ are $`0^{}`$. A simple interpretation of these condensates suggests itself. Relative to the quark momentum, there are three components of spin: along the direction of motion, opposite, and transverse. Times two for each parity gives a total of six condensates symmetric in color and flavor. Why massive quarks have two other condensates which are antisymmetric in color and flavor is not apparent.

A quark mass mixes left and right handed fields, favoring the formation of a $`0^+`$ condensate. As instanton zero modes mix left and right handed fields, the dynamical breaking of axial $`U(1)`$ symmetry also acts in the same way. We stress, however, that there are always two kinds of helicity condensates .

We claim that to describe a phase transition to color superconductivity in cold, dense quark matter, we only need to consider the condensate fields, ignoring the gluons. At one loop order, quarks screen gluons, generating a Debye mass $`m_Dg\mu `$, where $`g`$ is the $`SU(3)_c`$ coupling constant . We expect screening to occur at any nonzero density, including the phase transition region. If $`m_D0`$ at the phase transition , as massive modes the gluons decouple over large distances .

Consequently, in cold, dense quark matter the phase transition to color superconductivity is governed by an effective theory of the condensate fields in four dimensions . For scalar field theories in four dimensions, the only possible infrared stable fixed point in the space of coupling constants is the origin, so if of second order, the transition is mean field with logarithmic corrections. However, the transition could be driven first order by fluctuations through the Coleman-Weinberg mechanism . Since the infrared stable fixed point is at the origin, this possibility can be decided perturbatively, by computing the $`\beta `$-functions for the scalar field theory to one loop order.

The effective lagrangian is a sum of all terms which are invariant under color and flavor rotations. There is always a nonzero density of instantons at the phase transition; as shown in , they favor the condensation in the $`0^+`$ channel, and reduce the flavor symmetry to $`SU(N)_f`$. There are two $`0^+`$ condensate fields; in an effective lagrangian they mix through mass terms, so that barring an accidental degeneracy, only one linear combination of the two fields can become critical at a time.

We are left to consider the critical behavior of a single condensate field. From (3), this field is symmetric in the interchange of both color and flavor. Therefore, the color and flavor representations must be either both symmetric, or both antisymmetric. From group theory, $`\mathrm{𝟐}\times \mathrm{𝟐}=\mathrm{𝟏}_a+\mathrm{𝟑}_s`$ in $`SU(2)`$, while $`\mathrm{𝟑}\times \mathrm{𝟑}=\overline{\mathrm{𝟑}}_a+\mathrm{𝟔}_s`$ in $`SU(3)`$; “$`a`$” and “$`s`$” denote antisymmetric and symmetric representations, respectively.

For the scattering of two quarks, single gluon exchange is attractive in the color anti-triplet channel, $`\overline{\mathrm{𝟑}}_a`$, and repulsive in the color sextet, $`\mathrm{𝟔}_s`$. By asymptotic freedom, single gluon exchange is the dominant interaction at high density. Thus we can assume that at all densities above some critical value, the color anti-triplet channel is attractive. (The color sextet channel might become attractive for intermediate densities, where the coupling is strong; if so, it is straightforward to generalize our results.)

Two flavors: for $`SU(3)_c\times SU(2)_f`$ there are two allowed representations, the color anti-triplet, flavor singlet $`(\overline{\mathrm{𝟑}},\mathrm{𝟏})`$ and the color sextet, flavor triplet $`(\mathrm{𝟔},\mathrm{𝟑})`$. The $`(\overline{\mathrm{𝟑}},\mathrm{𝟏})`$ field is a $`U(3)`$ vector, which is equivalent to an $`O(6)`$ vector. The corresponding effective lagrangian has one coupling constant, which is infrared free, and so the transition can be of second order, with logarithmic corrections to mean field exponents.

Three flavors: in $`SU(3)_c\times SU(3)_f`$ there are again two possibilities, the color anti-triplet, flavor anti-triplet $`(\overline{\mathrm{𝟑}},\overline{\mathrm{𝟑}})`$ and the color sextet, flavor sextet $`(\mathrm{𝟔},\mathrm{𝟔})`$. The color-flavor locking ansatz  contains both, but only the $`(\overline{\mathrm{𝟑}},\overline{\mathrm{𝟑}})`$ becomes critical . The $`(\overline{\mathrm{𝟑}},\overline{\mathrm{𝟑}})`$ field is a $`U(3)\times U(3)`$ vector. The corresponding effective lagrangian has two coupling constants; the origin is infrared unstable , implying that the transition is driven first order through the Coleman-Weinberg mechanism .

Two plus one flavors: add a massive strange quark to massless up and down quarks. The up and down condensates are as for two flavors. Unlike massless quarks, massive strange quarks can condense with themselves in the color anti-triplet channel with an antisymmetric condensate , such as $`\mathrm{\Gamma }=\gamma _5\stackrel{}{\gamma }\widehat{p}`$.

Most interesting are the condensates of the strange quark with the up and down quarks. There is no symmetry constraint on these condensates, so under $`SU(3)_c\times SU(2)_f`$, both the color anti-triplet, flavor doublet $`(\overline{\mathrm{𝟑}},\mathrm{𝟐})`$ and the color sextet, flavor doublet $`(\mathrm{𝟔},\mathrm{𝟐})`$ are allowed. The $`(\overline{\mathrm{𝟑}},\mathrm{𝟐})`$ field is a $`U(3)\times U(2)`$ vector, with the transition driven first order by the Coleman-Weinberg mechanism .

In $`QCD`$, the important color anti-triplet condensates are the $`(\overline{\mathrm{𝟑}},\mathrm{𝟏})`$ field between up and down quarks, $`\varphi ^i`$, and the $`(\overline{\mathrm{𝟑}},\mathrm{𝟐})`$ field between strange and either up or down quarks, $`\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_a^i,a=u,d`$. Both of these fields condense at asymptotically high densities. Starting from low density, due to the mismatch between the Fermi surfaces of strange and nonstrange quarks, presumably first $`\varphi ^i`$, and later $`\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_a^i`$, condenses; the former transition may be of second order, but the latter must be of first order.

So far we have ignored the chiral phase transition. Nonzero quark masses break chiral symmetry, so that in $`QCD`$, if a chiral transition occurs, it cannot be of second order, only first (excluding a possible endpoint in the $`\mu T`$ plane ). If there is a first order chiral transition for $`\mu 0`$ and $`T=0`$, it can either occur at the same point as where $`\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_a^i`$ condenses, or at a different point. In either case, the transition where $`\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_a^i`$ condenses is of first order.

Note that in contrast to chiral symmetry, color superconductivity is rather insensitive to nonzero, degenerate quark masses. Single gluon exchange, for example, remains attractive in the color anti-triplet channel; while new condensates appear at nonzero mass, the condensates present at zero mass should not change much. It is important, however, that different flavors have nearly degenerate masses, since only then are the Fermi surfaces approximately equal. Thus we suggest that in $`QCD`$, if there is a first order chiral transition at $`\mu 0`$ and $`T=0`$, it might well occur at a different point from where $`\varphi ^i`$ or $`\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_a^i`$ condense. Model calculations with two massless flavors , however, do find that $`\varphi ^i`$ condenses at the same point as a first order chiral transition.

The patterns of color and flavor symmetry breaking can also be analyzed. For two degenerate flavors, a condensate for the $`(\overline{\mathrm{𝟑}},\mathrm{𝟏})`$ field $`\varphi ^i`$ breaks $`SU(3)_c`$ to $`SU(2)_c`$ and leaves flavor unbroken . For three degenerate flavors, a condensate for the $`(\overline{\mathrm{𝟑}},\overline{\mathrm{𝟑}})`$ field can break in two distinct ways; one can show that color-flavor locking , where $`SU(3)_c\times SU(3)_f`$ breaks to $`SU(3)`$, must occur . The case of two plus one flavors interpolates between these two limits. If $`\varphi ^i`$ condenses and $`\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_a^i`$ not, the breaking is that for two degenerate flavors, while once $`\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_a^i`$ condenses, at asymptotically high densities $`\varphi ^i`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{\varphi }_a^i`$ combine to approach the case of three degenerate flavors.

Finally, we observe that while there is always some breaking of axial $`U(1)`$, in practice it becomes extremely small at high density. At high density, the breaking of axial $`U(1)`$ is reliably computable by semi-classical means; for three massless flavors, at large $`\mu `$ the density of instantons falls off like $`1/\mu ^9`$. Thus once semiclassical methods apply, we inescapably reach an “instanton-free” regime in which the axial $`U(1)`$ symmetry is effectively, if not exactly, restored. This means that a $`0^{}`$ condensate, such as $`q^TCq`$, is as likely to form as the $`0^+`$ condensate $`q^TC\gamma _5q`$. If axial $`U(1)`$ is an approximate symmetry, then any mixture of these condensates is equally probable, so that condensation spontaneously breaks not only axial $`U(1)`$, but also parity (with respect to the vacuum at $`\mu =T=0`$). This is implicit in , noted by , and stressed by . This violation of parity may be large, since the axial $`U(1)`$ symmetry is nearly exact. The possibility of large parity violation at very high densities may be important for both heavy ion collisions  and quark stars .

As the axial $`U(1)`$ is a continuous symmetry, its breaking produces a Goldstone boson. Including the quark masses turns this into a pseudo Goldstone boson; unlike pions, however, its mass squared is not linear in the current quark mass, but quadratic. To see this, note that even with a mass term, a discrete chiral symmetry still remains; under $`q_a^ii\gamma _5q_a^i`$, $`\overline{q}q\overline{q}q`$ and $`\varphi ^i\varphi ^i`$. If $`mm`$, then $`m\overline{q}q`$ and $`m\varphi ^i`$ are invariant under this discrete chiral symmetry; but $`m\varphi ^i`$ is not invariant under color. The simplest invariant term is $`m^2|\varphi |^2`$, which is quadratic in the quark mass. The same result can also be shown directly from the gap equations.

Since the up and down quark masses are so much lighter than the strange, the pseudo Goldstone boson for the spontaneous breaking of axial $`U(1)`$ is almost entirely from the condensate of up with down quarks; it is very light, with a mass of order $`5MeV`$, and not $`100MeV`$, as for pions .

We thank S. Dawson, V. Emery, M. Gyulassy, D. Kharzeev, V. N. Muthukumar, S. Ohta, K. Rajagopal, M. Stephanov, N. Samios, E. Shuryak, and the referees for their help and insight.