Chiral crossover characterized by Mott transition at finite temperature

Abstract

We discuss the proper definition for the chiral crossover at finite temperature, based on the Goldstone's theorem. Different from the usually used maximum change of chiral condensate, we propose to define the crossover temperature by the Mott transition of pseudo-Goldstone bosons, which, by definition, guarantees the Goldstone's theorem. We analytically and numerically demonstrate this property in frame of a Pauli-Villars regularized NJL model. In external magnetic field, we find that the Mott transition temperature shows an inverse magnetic catalysis effect.