Non-uniform chiral phase in effective chiral quark models

We analyze the phase diagram in effective chiral quark models (the Nambu–Jona-Lasinio model, the σ-model with quarks) and show that at the mean-field level a phase with a periodically-modulated chiral fields separates the usual phases with broken and restored chiral symmetry. A possible signal of such a phase is the production of multipion jets travelling in opposite directions, with individual pions having momenta of the order of several hundred MeV. This signal can be interpreted in terms of disoriented chiral condensates.