Induced symmetry breaking and a new phase of hadronic matter at high density

Abstract

The notion induced symmetry breaking (ISB) is introduced as a generalization of the spontaneous symmetry breaking mechanism and is illustrated in a simple two flavor spin model. In the case of QCD at finite baryon density, I argue that the quark interaction induced by zero sound satisfies the prerequisites which are necessary for a ISB scenario. In this scenario, the quark condensate sharply drops at the critical value of the chemical potential in coincidence with a rapid increase of the baryon density. The spectrum of the light particles is discussed below and above this phase transition. The consequences of the ISB mechanism for heavy ion collisions are briefly addressed.