Magnetic catalysis in nuclear matter

A strong magnetic field enhances the chiral condensate at low temperatures. This so-called magnetic catalysis thus seeks to increase the vacuum mass of nucleons. We employ two relativistic field-theoretical models for nuclear matter, the Walecka model and an extended linear sigma model, to discuss the resulting effect on the transition between vacuum and nuclear matter at zero temperature. In both models we find that the creation of nuclear matter in a sufficiently strong magnetic field becomes energetically more costly due to the heaviness of magnetized nucleons, even though it is also found that nuclear matter is more strongly bound in a magnetic field. Our results are potentially important for dense nuclear matter in compact stars, especially since previous studies in the astrophysical context have always ignored the contribution of the magnetized Dirac sea and thus the effect of magnetic catalysis.

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