2006/11/30 by Antonio M. Garcı́a-Garcı́a, Antonio M. Garcia-Garcia, James C. Osborn
Physics and Astronomy · #Condensed matter physics #Dirac operator #Lattice (music) #Lattice QCD #Mathematical physics #Metal–insulator transition #Phase transition #Physics #Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions #Quantum chaos and dynamical systems #Quantum chromodynamics #Quantum many-body systems #Quantum mechanics #Quantum phase transition #cond-mat.dis-nn #hep-lat #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.75.034503
published as Phys.Rev.D75:034503,2007 · 7 pages, 6 figures, references added, typos corrected, journal version
openalex publication_date 2007/02/15 · arxiv created 2007/03/09 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We investigate the lattice QCD Dirac operator with staggered fermions at temperatures around the chiral phase transition. We present evidence of a metal-insulator transition in the low lying modes of the Dirac operator around the same temperature as the chiral phase transition. This strongly suggests the phenomenon of Anderson localization drives the QCD vacuum to the chirally symmetric phase in a way similar to a metal-insulator transition in a disordered conductor. We also discuss how Anderson localization affects the usual phenomenological treatment of phase transitions a la Ginzburg-Landau.