  We show that the magnitude of the order parameters in
Polyakov-Nambu-Jona-Lasinio (PNJL) model, given by the quark condensate and the
Polyakov loop, can be used as a criterium to clearly identify, without
ambiguities, phases and boundaries of the strongly interacting matter, namely,
the broken/restored chiral symmetry, and confinement/deconfinement regions.
This structure is represented by the projection of the order parameters in the
temperature-chemical potential plane, which allows a clear identification of
pattern changes in the phase diagram. Such a criterium also enables the
emergence of a quarkyonic phase even in the two-flavor system. We still show
that this new phase diminishes due to the influence of an additional
vector-type interaction in the PNJL phase diagrams, and is quite sensitive to
the effect of the change of the $T_0$ parameter in the Polyakov potential.
Finally, we show that the phases and boundaries constructed by our method
indicate that the order parameters should be more strongly correlated, as in
the case of entanglement PNJL (EPNJL) model. This result suggests a novel way
to pursue further investigation of new interactions between the order
parameters in order to improve the PNJL model.
