Lattice study of QCD at finite chiral density: topology and confinement

Abstract

In this paper we study the properties of QCD at nonzero chiral density $\rho_5$, which is introduced through chiral chemical potential $\mu_5$. The study is performed within lattice simulation of QCD with dynamical rooted staggered fermions. We first check that $\rho_5$ is generated at nonzero $\mu_5$ and in the chiral limit observe $\rho_5 \sim \Lambda_{QCD}^2 \mu_5$. We also test the possible connection between confinement and topological fluctuations. To this end, we measured the topological susceptibility $\chi_{\mbox{\footnotesize top}}$ and string tension $\sigma$ for various values of $\mu_5$. We observed that both string tension and chiral susceptibility grow with $\mu_5$ and there is a strong correlation between these quantities. We thus conclude that the chiral chemical potential enhances topological fluctuations and that these fluctuations can indeed be closely related to the strength of confinement.