Influence of the inverse magnetic catalysis and the vector interaction in the location of the critical end point

Abstract: The effect of a strong magnetic field on the location of the critical end point (CEP) in the QCD phase diagram is discussed under different scenarios. In particular, we consider the contribution of the vector interaction and take into account the inverse magnetic catalysis obtained in lattice QCD calculations at zero chemical potential. The discussion is realized within the (2+1) Polyakov--Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model. It is shown that the vector interaction and the magnetic field have opposite competing effects, and that the winning effect depends strongly on the intensity of the magnetic field. The inverse magnetic catalysis at zero chemical potential has two distinct effects for magnetic fields above $\gtrsim 0.3$ GeV$^2$: it shifts the CEP to lower chemical potentials, hinders the increase of the CEP temperature and prevents a too large increase of the baryonic density at the CEP. For fields $eB<0.1$ GeV$^2$ the competing effects between the vector contribution and the magnetic field can move the CEP to regions of temperature and density in the phase diagram that could be more easily accessible to experiments.