Quark Antiscreening at Strong Magnetic Field and Inverse Magnetic Catalysis

Understand

The dependence of the QCD coupling constant with a strong magnetic field and the implications for the critical temperature of the chiral phase transition are investigated.

• It is found that the coupling constant becomes anisotropic in a strong magnetic field and that the quarks, confined by the field to the lowest Landau level where they pair with antiquarks, produce an antiscreening effect.
• These results lead to inverse magnetic catalysis, providing a natural explanation for the behavior of the critical temperature in the strong-field region.