  We analyze the features of strongly interacting matter in the presence of
nonzero isospin chemical potential $\mu_I$, within a nonlocal two-flavor
Polyakov-Nambu-Jona-Lasinio (PNJL) model. For a system at finite temperature
$T$, we describe the behavior of various thermodynamic quantities and study the
phase diagram in the $\mu_I - T$ plane. In particular, it is found that for
values of $\mu_I$ larger than the pion mass and temperatures lower than a
critical value of about 170 MeV the system lies in an isospin symmetry broken
phase signaled by the presence of a nonzero pion condensate. Our results for
the phase diagram are found to be in better agreement with those arising from
lattice QCD calculations, as compared to the predictions from other theoretical
approaches like the local PNJL model.

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology