The extended quark sigma model at finite temperature and baryonic chemical potential

An extended quark sigma model which includes higher-order mesonic interactions is studied at the finite baryonic chemical potential uB and temperature T. The field equations have been solved in the mean-field approximation by using the modified iteration method at finite baryonic chemical potential uB and temperature T. The Goldstone theorem is satisfied below a critical temperature in the chiral limit for uB = 0. As expected from general universality, the chiral phase transition is second-order. By including the higher-order mesonic interactions, the critical temperature is reduced compared to that found in recent works and is in good agreement with lattice QCD results. The nucleon mass is examined in the (uB, T) plane, showing a strong dependence on uB and T. We find that an increase in both the baryonic chemical potential uB and the temperature T leads to an increase in the values of the nucleon mass. This is evidence for the quark-gluon deconfinement phase transition at higher values of temperature. © 2013 Pleiades Publishing, Ltd.