Quantum Phase Transitions and New Scales in QCD-like Theories

It is commonly believed that in confining vectorlike gauge theories the center and chiral symmetry transition scales are parametrically of the same order and take place around the strong scale Λ^-1. We demonstrate that (nonthermal) compactification of such theories on R³×S¹ exhibit new phase transition scales and unexpected phenomena. There are cases with single chiral symmetry breaking at an exotic scale Λ^-1/N_c in the absence of any change in center symmetry. The scale Λ^-1/N_c, invisible in perturbation theory, is also the scale where Abelian versus non-Abelian confinement regimes meet. Large N_c volume independence provides new insights and independently confirms the existence of these scales. We also show that certain phases and scales are outside the reach of holographic (supergravity) modeling of QCD.