A first order transition and parity violation in a color superconductor

Abstract

In cold, dense quark matter, quarks of different flavor can form Cooper pairs which are anti-triplets under color and have total spin J=0. The transition to a phase where strange quarks condense with either up or down quarks is driven first order by the Coleman-Weinberg mechanism. At densities sufficiently high to (effectively) restore the axial U(1) symmetry, then relative to the ordinary vacuum, the condensation of up with down quarks (effectively) breaks parity spontaneously.