Parity odd bubbles in hot QCD

Abstract

We consider the topological susceptibility for an SU(N) gauge theory in the limit of a large number of colors, $N \to \infty$. At nonzero temperature, the behavior of the topological susceptibility depends upon the order of the deconfining phase transition. The most interesting possibility is if the deconfining transition, at $T=T_d$, is of second order. Then we argue that Witten's relation implies that the topological susceptibility vanishes in a calculable fashion at $T_d$. As noted by Witten, this implies that for sufficiently light quark masses, metastable states which act like regions of nonzero $\theta$ --- parity odd bubbles --- can arise at temperatures just below $T_d$. Experimentally, parity odd bubbles have dramatic signatures: the $\eta'$ meson, and especially the $\eta$ meson, become light, and are copiously produced. Further, in parity odd bubbles, processes which are normally forbidden, such as $\eta \to \pi^0 \pi^0$, are allowed. The most direct way to detect parity violation is by measuring a parity odd global asymmetry for charged pions, which we define.