Patterns and partners for chiral symmetry restoration

Abstract

We present and analyze a new set of Ward Identities which shed light on the distinction between different patterns of chiral symmetry restoration in QCD, namely $O(4)$ vs $O(4)\times U(1)_A$. The degeneracy of chiral partners for all scalar and pseudoscalar meson nonet members are studied through their corresponding correlators. Around chiral symmetry degeneration of $O(4)$ partners, our analysis predicts that $U(1)_A$ partners are also degenerated. Our analysis also leads to $I=1/2$ scalar-pseudoscalar partner degeneration at exact chiral restoration, and supports ideal mixing between the $\eta$-$\eta^\prime$ and the $f_0(500)$-$f_0(980)$ mesons at $O(4)\times U(1)_A$ restoration, with a possible range where the pseudoscalar mixing vanishes if the two transitions are well separated. We test our results with lattice data and provide further relevant observables regarding chiral and $U(1)_A$ restoration for future lattice and model analyses.