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

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

Non-locality as an essential feature of brane worlds

Weak gravity in the brane world scenario with a scalar field in the bulk between two end-of-the-world branes is investigated by using the doubly gauge invariant formalism. We review the result that Einstein gravity is restored in the low energy limit and that high-energy corrections to Einstein gravity can be mimicked by higher derivative terms. After that, it is argued that non-locality is one of essential features of brane worlds.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, to be published in the proceedings of the YITP workshop "Braneworld -- Dynamics of spacetime with boundary --