11 research outputs found
Perturbative QCD at non-zero chemical potential: Comparison with the large-Nf limit and apparent convergence
The perturbative three-loop result for the thermodynamic potential of QCD at
finite temperature and chemical potential as obtained in the framework of
dimensional reduction is compared with the exact result in the limit of large
flavor number. The apparent convergence of the former as well as possibilities
for optimization are investigated. Corresponding optimized results for full QCD
are given for the case of two massless quark flavors.Comment: REVTEX4, 4 pages, 3 color figures. v2: fig. 3 now includes also
lattice data for two-flavor QCD at nonzero chemical potentia
Anomalous specific heat in high-density QED and QCD
Long-range quasi-static gauge-boson interactions lead to anomalous
(non-Fermi-liquid) behavior of the specific heat in the low-temperature limit
of an electron or quark gas with a leading term. We obtain
perturbative results beyond the leading log approximation and find that
dynamical screening gives rise to a low-temperature series involving also
anomalous fractional powers . We determine their coefficients in
perturbation theory up to and including order and compare with exact
numerical results obtained in the large- limit of QED and QCD.Comment: REVTEX4, 6 pages, 2 figures; v2: minor improvements, references
added; v3: factor of 2 error in the T^(7/3) coefficient corrected and plots
update
The pressure of deconfined QCD for all temperatures and quark chemical potentials
We present a new method for the evaluation of the perturbative expansion of
the QCD pressure which is valid at all values of the temperature and quark
chemical potentials in the deconfined phase and which we work out up to and
including order g^4 accuracy. Our calculation is manifestly four-dimensional
and purely diagrammatic -- and thus independent of any effective theory
descriptions of high temperature or high density QCD. In various limits, we
recover the known results of dimensional reduction and the HDL and HTL
resummation schemes, as well as the equation of state of zero-temperature quark
matter, thereby verifying their respective validity. To demonstrate the overlap
of the various regimes, we furthermore show how the predictions of dimensional
reduction and HDL resummed perturbation theory agree in the regime
T~\sqrt{g}*mu. At parametrically smaller temperatures T~g*mu, we find that the
dimensional reduction result agrees well with those of the nonstatic
resummations down to the remarkably low value T~0.2 m_D, where m_D is the Debye
mass at T=0. Beyond this, we see that only the latter methods connect smoothly
to the T=0 result of Freedman and McLerran, to which the leading small-T
corrections are given by the so-called non-Fermi-liquid terms, first obtained
through HDL resummations. Finally, we outline the extension of our method to
the next order, where it would include terms for the low-temperature entropy
and specific heats that are unknown at present.Comment: 45 pages, 21 figures; v2: minor corrections and clarifications,
references added; v3: Fig 16 added, version accepted for publication in PR
Thermodynamics of Large-N_f QCD at Finite Chemical Potential
We extend the previously obtained results for the thermodynamic potential of
hot QCD in the limit of large number of fermions to non-vanishing chemical
potential. We give exact results for the thermal pressure in the entire range
of temperature and chemical potential for which the presence of a Landau pole
is negligible numerically. In addition we compute linear and non-linear quark
susceptibilities at zero chemical potential, and the entropy at small
temperatures. We compare with the available perturbative results and determine
their range of applicability. Our numerical accuracy is sufficiently high to
check and verify existing results, including the recent perturbative results by
Vuorinen on quark number susceptibilities and the older results by Freedman and
McLerran on the pressure at zero temperature and high chemical potential. We
also obtain a number of perturbative coefficients at sixth order in the
coupling that have not yet been calculated analytically. In the case of both
non-zero temperature and non-zero chemical potential, we investigate the range
of validity of a scaling behaviour noticed recently in lattice calculations by
Fodor, Katz, and Szabo at moderately large chemical potential and find that it
breaks down rather abruptly at , which points to a
presumably generic obstruction for extrapolating data from small to large
chemical potential. At sufficiently small temperatures , we find
dominating non-Fermi-liquid contributions to the interaction part of the
entropy, which exhibits strong nonlinearity in the temperature and an excess
over the free-theory value.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, JHEP style; v2: several updates, rewritten and
extended sect. 3.4 covering now "Entropy at small temperatures and
non-Fermi-liquid behaviour"; v3: additional remarks at the end of sect. 3.4;
v4: minor corrections and additions (version to appear in JHEP
Thermodynamics at Non-Zero Baryon Number Density: A Comparison of Lattice and Hadron Resonance Gas Model Calculations
We compare recent lattice studies of QCD thermodynamics at non-zero quark
chemical potential with the thermodynamics of a hadron resonance gas. We argue
that for T < Tc the equation of state derived from Monte--Carlo simulations of
two flavour QCD at non-zero chemical potential can be well described by a
hadron resonance gas when using the same set of approximations as used in
current lattice calculations. We estimate the importance of truncation errors
arising from the use of a Taylor expansion in terms of the quark chemical
potential and examine the influence of unphysically large quark masses on the
equation of state and the critical conditions for deconfinement.Comment: 15 pages, LaTex2e, 6 EPS-figures, minor corrections, reference adde
Advances in perturbative thermal field theory
The progress of the last decade in perturbative quantum field theory at high
temperature and density made possible by the use of effective field theories
and hard-thermal/dense-loop resummations in ultrarelativistic gauge theories is
reviewed. The relevant methods are discussed in field theoretical models from
simple scalar theories to non-Abelian gauge theories including gravity. In the
simpler models, the aim is to give a pedagogical account of some of the
relevant problems and their resolution, while in the more complicated but also
more interesting models such as quantum chromodynamics, a summary of the
results obtained so far are given together with references to a few most recent
developments and open problems.Comment: 84 pages, 18 figues, review article submitted to Reports on Progress
in Physics; v2, v3: minor additions and corrections, more reference
Quasi-Particle Description of Strongly Interacting Matter: Towards a Foundation
We confront our quasi-particle model for the equation of state of strongly
interacting matter with recent first-principle QCD calculations. In particular,
we test its applicability at finite baryon densities by comparing with Taylor
expansion coefficients of the pressure for two quark flavours. We outline a
chain of approximations starting from the Phi-functional approach to QCD which
motivates the quasi-particle picture.Comment: Aug 2006. 6 pp. Invited Talk given at Hot Quarks 2006, Villasimius,
Sardinia, Italy, 15-20 May 200
Three-loop HTL QCD thermodynamics
The hard-thermal-loop perturbation theory (HTLpt) framework is used to
calculate the thermodynamic functions of a quark-gluon plasma to three-loop
order. This is the highest order accessible by finite temperature perturbation
theory applied to a non-Abelian gauge theory before the high-temperature
infrared catastrophe. All ultraviolet divergences are eliminated by
renormalization of the vacuum, the HTL mass parameters, and the strong coupling
constant. After choosing a prescription for the mass parameters, the three-loop
results for the pressure and trace anomaly are found to be in very good
agreement with recent lattice data down to , which are
temperatures accessible by current and forthcoming heavy-ion collision
experiments.Comment: 27 pages, 11 figures; corresponds with published version in JHE
Unified description of deconfined QCD equation of state
Ipp A, Kajantie K, Rebhan A, Vuorinen A. Unified description of deconfined QCD equation of state. J.Phys.G. 2007;34(8):S631-S634