Tricritical behavior of the massive chiral Gross-Neveu model

The phase diagram of the massive chiral Gross-Neveu model (the $1+1$-dimensional Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model at large N) is investigated in the vicinity of the tricritical point. Using the derivative expansion, the grand canonical potential is cast into the form of a Ginzburg-Landau effective action. Minimization of this action by variational and numerical methods reveals both 1st and 2nd order phase transitions to a chiral crystal phase, separated by a tricritical line. These findings are contrasted to the massive Gross-Neveu model with discrete chiral symmetry where only 2nd order transitions have been observed.