Degrees of freedom and the phase transitions of two-flavor QCD

Journal Article · Fri Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 2008 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVD.78.034015· OSTI ID:21250619

Kaehaerae, Topi; Tuominen, Kimmo ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics, University of Jyvaeskylae (Finland)

We study two effective models for QCD, the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio -model and the linear sigma model extended by including a Polyakov loop potential, which is fitted to reproduce the pure gauge theory thermodynamics, and a coupling between the chiral fields and the Polyakov loop. Thus the resulting models have as relevant degrees of freedom the Polyakov loop and chiral fields. By comparing the extended models with the bare chiral models we can conclude that the addition of the Polyakov loop is necessary in order to obtain both qualitative and quantitative agreement with known results at finite temperatures. These results are extended to finite net-quark densities, several thermodynamical quantities are investigated in detail, and possible applications and consequences for relativistic heavy ion collision phenomenology are discussed.

• OSTI ID: 21250619
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Journal Name: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 78; ISSN PRVDAQ; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
CHIRALITY
COUPLING
DEGREES OF FREEDOM
DENSITY
FLAVOR MODEL
GAUGE INVARIANCE
HEAVY ION REACTIONS
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
POTENTIALS
QUANTUM CHROMODYNAMICS
QUARKS
RELATIVISTIC RANGE
SIGMA MODEL
THERMODYNAMICS