Phase structure of cold magnetized quark matter within the SU(3) NJL model

Abstract

The possible different phases of homogeneous cold quark matter in the presence of a finite magnetic field and chemical potential are obtained within the SU(3) NJL model for two parameter sets often used in the literature. Although the general pattern is the same in both cases, the number of intermediate phases is parameter dependent. The chiral susceptibilities, as usually defined, are different not only for the s quark as compared with the two light quarks, but also for the u and d quarks, yielding nonidentical crossover lines for the light quark sector. The results for stellar matter, imposing charge neutrality and β equilibrium, are also presented for the same sets of parameters. The corresponding phase diagrams show some differences with respect to the symmetric cases. It is found that for stellar matter the inverse catalysis effect is less pronounced and the transition to the fully chiral symmetry-restored phase occurs at higher chemical potentials.