We investigate the chiral phase transition at nonzero temperature T and baryon-chemical potential µ B within the framework of the linear sigma model and the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model. For small bare quark masses we find in both models a smooth crossover transition for nonzero T and µ B = 0 and a first order transition for T = 0 and nonzero µ B . We calculate explicitly the first order phase transition line and spinodal lines in the (T, µ B ) plane. As expected they all end in a critical point. We find that, in the linear sigma model, the sigma mass goes to zero at the critical point. This is in contrast to the NJL model, where the sigma mass, as defined in the random phase approximation, does not vanish. We also compute the adiabatic lines in the (T, µ B ) plane. Within the models studied here, the critical point does not serve as a "focusing" point in the adiabatic expansion.

We discuss homogeneous nucleation in a first-order chiral phase transition within an effective field theory approach to low-energy QCD. Exact decay rates and bubble profiles are obtained numerically and compared to analytic results obtained with the thin-wall approximation. The thin-wall approximation overestimates the nucleation rate for any degree of supercooling. The time scale for critical thermal fluctuations is calculated and compared to typical expansion times for high-energy hadronic or heavy-ion collisions. We find that significant supercooling is possible, and the relevant mechanism for phase conversion might be that of spinodal decomposition. Some potential experimental signatures of supercooling, such as an increase in the correlation length of the scalar condensate, are also discussed.

We perform a field-theoretical computation of hadron production in large systems at the QCD confinement phase transition associated with restoration of the Z(3) global symmetry. This occurs from the decay of a condensate for the Polyakov loop. From the effective potential for the Polyakov loop, its mass just below the confinement temperature Tc is in between the vacuum masses of the pion and that of the kaon. Therefore, due to phase-space restrictions the number of produced kaons is roughly an order of magnitude smaller than that of produced pions, in agreement with recent results from collisions of gold ions at the BNL-RHIC. From its mass, we estimate that the Polyakov loop condensate is characterized by a (spatial) correlation scale of 1/m ℓ ≃ 1/2 fm. For systems of deconfined matter of about that size, the free energy may not be dominated by a condensate for the Polyakov loop, and so the process of hadronization may be qualitatively different as compared to large systems. In that vein, experimental data on hadron abundance ratios, for example K/π, in high-multiplicity pp events at high energies should be very interesting.

We study the expansion dynamics of a quark-antiquark plasma droplet from an initial state with restored chiral symmetry. The calculations are made within the linear σ model scaled with an additional scalar field representing the gluon condensate. We solve numerically the classical equations of motion for the meson fields coupled to the fluid-dynamical equations for the plasma. Strong space-time oscillations of the meson fields are observed in the course of the chiral transition. A new phenomenon, the formation and collapse of vacuum bubbles, is predicted. The particle production due to the bremsstrahlung of the meson fields is estimated.

We consider an effective Lagrangian containing contributions from glueball and gluon degrees of freedom with a scale-invariant coupling between the two. The thermodynamic potential is calculated taking into account thermal fluctuations of both fields. The glueball mean field dominates at low temperature, while the high temperature phase is governed by low-mass gluonlike excitations. The model shows some similarities to the lattice results in the pure glue sector of QCD. In particular, it exhibits a strong first order phase transition at a critical temperature of approximately 265 MeV when reasonable parameters are taken.