title: Phase of the fermion determinant at nonzero chemical potential.
abstract: We show that in the microscopic domain of QCD (also known as the domain) at nonzero chemical potential the average phase factor of the fermion determinant is nonzero for micro<m(pi)/2 and is exponentially suppressed for larger values of the chemical potential. This follows from the chiral Lagrangian that describes the low-energy limit of the expectation value of the phase factor. Explicit expressions for the average phase factor are derived using a random matrix formulation of the zero momentum limit of this chiral Lagrangian.
authors.affiliation: The Niels Bohr Institute, Blegdamsvej 17, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Splittorff
authors.forename: J J M
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Verbaarschot