Lattice QCD at finite temperature and density

We study the phase structure of QCD at finite temperature and density by numerical simulations on a lattice. The most important point for the numerical study at finite density is treatment of the sign problem. We propose a method to avoid the sign problem, which is based on a cumulant expansion of the complex phase in the density of state method combined with the reweighting method. Using the method, we study the critical point terminating a first order phase transition line in lattice QCD at high temperature and density.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, talk presented at the YITP workshop on "New Frontiers in QCD 2010", March 1-19, 2010, Kyoto, Japa

Study of the critical point in lattice QCD at high temperature and density

We propose a method to probe the nature of phase transitions in lattice QCD at finite temperature and density, which is based on the investigation of an effective potential as a function of the average plaquette. We analyze data obtained in a simulation of two-flavor QCD using p4-improved staggered quarks with bare quark mass $m/T = 0.4$, and find that a first order phase transition line appears in the high density regime for $\mu_q/T \sim 2.5$. The effective potential as a function of the quark number density is also studied. We calculate the chemical potential as a function of the density from the canonical partition function and discuss the existence of the first order phase transition line.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, talk presented at Lattice 200

Phase structure of hot dense QCD by a histogram method

We study the phase structure of QCD at high temperature and density by lattice QCD simulations adopting a histogram method. The quark mass dependence and the chemical potential dependence of the nature of phase transition are investigated focusing on the probability distribution function (histogram). The shape of the distribution function changes with the quark mass and chemical potential. Through the shape of the distribution, the critical surface which separates the first order transition and crossover regions in the heavy quark region is determined for the (2+1)-flavor case. Moreover, we determined the critical point at finite density for two-flavor QCD with an intermediate quark mass, using a Gaussian approximation of the complex phase distribution of the quark determinant. The chemical potential dependence of the critical quark mass is also evaluated in the situation where two light quarks and many massive quarks exist. We find that the first order transition region becomes wider with the chemical potential in the many-flavor QCD.Comment: 16 pages, 20 figures, mini-revie

Remarks on the reweighting method in the chemical potential direction

We comment on the reweighting method in the chemical potential $(\mu_{\rm q})$ direction. We study the fluctuation of the reweighting factor during Monte-Carlo steps. We find that it is the absolute value of the reweighting factor that mainly contributes to the shift of the phase transition line $(\beta_c)$ by the presence of $\mu_{\rm q}$. The phase fluctuation is a cause of the sign problem, but the effect on $\beta_c$ seems to be small. We also discuss $\beta_c$ for Iso-vector chemical potential and $\beta_c$ determined from simulations with imaginary chemical potential.Comment: 5pages, 2 figures, Contribution to SEWM 2002 (Heidelberg, 2-5 October 2002

Lattice QCD thermodynamics with Wilson quarks

We review studies of QCD thermodynamics by lattice QCD simulations with dynamical Wilson quarks. After explaining the basic properties of QCD with Wilson quarks at finite temperature including the phase structure and the scaling properties around the chiral phase transition, we discuss the critical temperature, the equation of state and heavy-quark free energies.Comment: Talk at Yukawa International Seminar 2006 (Kyoto), 8 pages, 8 figure

Lee-Yang zero analysis for the study of QCD phase structure

We comment on the Lee-Yang zero analysis for the study of the phase structure of QCD at high temperature and baryon number density by Monte-Carlo simulations. We find that the sign problem for non-zero density QCD induces a serious problem in the finite volume scaling analysis of the Lee-Yang zeros for the investigation of the order of the phase transition. If the sign problem occurs at large volume, the Lee-Yang zeros will always approach the real axis of the complex parameter plane in the thermodynamic limit. This implies that a scaling behavior which would suggest a crossover transition will not be obtained. To clarify this problem, we discuss the Lee-Yang zero analysis for SU(3) pure gauge theory as a simple example without the sign problem, and then consider the case of non-zero density QCD. It is suggested that the distribution of the Lee-Yang zeros in the complex parameter space obtained by each simulation could be more important information for the investigation of the critical endpoint in the $(T, \mu_q)$ plane than the finite volume scaling behavior.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables, minor change

Phase structure of many flavor lattice QCD at finite temperature

In realistic technicolor models containing many fermions, the electroweak baryogenesis offers a natural scenario for generating baryon number asymmetry. One of the key ingredients is the occurrence of the first order phase transition at finite temperature. As a first step toward the exploration of this possibility on the lattice, we develop an agile method to identify the critical mass for a given Nf, separating the first order and the crossover transition. We explain the outline of our method and demonstrate it by determining the critical mass of Nf-flavors in the presence of light two-flavors. It is found that the critical mass becomes larger with Nf.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. Contribution to SCGT12 "KMI-GCOE Workshop on Strong Coupling Gauge Theories in the LHC Perspective", 4-7 Dec. 2012, Nagoya Universit

Singularities of QCD in the complex chemical potential plane

We study the thermodynamic singularities of QCD in the complex chemical potential plane by a numerical simulation of lattice QCD, and discuss a method to understand the nature of the QCD phase transition at finite density from the information of the singularities. The existence of singular points at which the partition function (Z) vanishes is expected in the complex plane. These are called Lee-Yang zeros or Fisher zeros. We investigate the distribution of these singular points using the data obtained by a simulation of two-flavor QCD with p4-improved staggered quarks. The convergence radius of a Taylor expansion of ln Z in terms of the chemical potential is also discussed.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, Contribution to the "XXVII International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory", July 26-31, 2009, Peking University, Beijing, Chin

QCD Level Density from Maximum Entropy Method

We propose a method to calculate the QCD level density directly from the thermodynamic quantities obtained by lattice QCD simulations with the use of the maximum entropy method (MEM). Understanding QCD thermodynamics from QCD spectral properties has its own importance. Also it has a close connection to phenomenological analyses of the lattice data as well as experimental data on the basis of hadronic resonances. Our feasibility study shows that the MEM can provide a useful tool to study QCD level density.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, talk presented at Lattice 2005 (Non-zero temperature and density