Screening correlators with chiral Fermions

We study screening correlators of quark-antiquark composites at T=2T_c, where T_c is the QCD phase transition temperature, using overlap quarks in the quenched approximation of lattice QCD. As the lattice spacing is changed from 1/4T to a=1/6T and 1/8T, we find that screening correlators change little, in contrast with the situation for other types of lattice fermions. All correlators are close to the ideal gas prediction at small separations. The long distance falloff is clearly exponential, showing that a parametrization by a single screening length is possible at distances z > 1/T. The correlator corresponding to the thermal vector is close to the ideal gas value at all distances, whereas that for the thermal scalar deviates at large distances. This is examined through the screening lengths and momentum space correlators. There is strong evidence that the screening transfer matrix does not have reflection positivity.Comment: 10 pages, 9 fig

Quenched QCD at finite temperature with chiral Fermions

We study physics at temperatures just above the QCD phase transition (Tc) using chiral (overlap) Fermions in the quenched approximation of lattice QCD. Exact zero modes of the overlap Dirac operator are localized and their frequency of occurrence drops with temperature. This is closely related to axial U(1) symmetry, which remains broken up to 2Tc. After subtracting the effects of these zero modes, chiral symmetry is restored, as indicated by the behavior of the chiral condensate. The pseudoscalar and vector screening masses are close to ideal gas values

Phases and properties of quark matter

I review recent developments in finite temperature lattice QCD which are useful for the study of heavy-ion collisions. I pay particular attention to studies of the equation of state and the light they throw on conformal symmetry and the large N_c limit, and to the structure of the phase diagram for N_f=2+1.Comment: Plenary talk at Quark Matter 2008, Jaipur, India (8 pages, 5 figures