Probing the QCD vacuum with an Abelian chromomagnetic field: A study within an effective model

We study the response of the QCD vacuum to an external Abelian chromomagnetic field in the framework of a nonlocal Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model with the Polyakov loop. We use the lattice results on the deconfinement temperature of the pure gauge theory to compute the same quantity in the presence of dynamical quarks. We find a linear relationship between the deconfinement temperature with quarks and the squared root of the applied field strength, gH, in qualitative ( and to some extent also quantitative) agreement with existing lattice calculations. On the other hand, we find a discrepancy on the approximate chiral symmetry restoration: while lattice results suggest the deconfinement and the chiral restoration remain linked even at a nonzero value of gH, our results are consistent with a scenario in which the two transitions are separated as gH is increased.