QCD Thermodynamics from the Lattice

We review the current methods and results of lattice simulations of quantum chromodynamics at nonzero temperatures and densities. The review is intended to introduce the subject to interested nonspecialists and beginners. It includes a brief overview of lattice gauge theory, a discussion of the determination of the crossover temperature, the QCD phase diagram at zero and nonzero densities, the equation of state, some in-medium properties of hadrons including charmonium, and some plasma transport coefficients.Comment: 74 pp. 31 figs. To appear in the European Physical Journal A and Advances in Physics of Particles and Nuclei. Added references, corrected typos, and updated the discussion of the thermal heavy quark/antiquark potential. Added and updated references. Final versio

The triviality bound on the Higgs mass; its value and what it means

Older lattice work exploring the Higgs mass triviality bound is briefly reviewed. It indicates that a strongly interacting scalar sector in the minimal standard model cannot exist; on the other hand low energy QCD phenomenology might be interpreted as an indication that it could. We attack this puzzle using the $1/N$ expansion and discover a simple criterion for selecting a lattice action that is more likely to produce a heavy Higgs particle. Depending on the precise form of the limitation put on the cutoff effects, our large $N$ calculations, when combined with old numerical data, suggest that the Higgs mass bound might be around 750 $GeV$, which is higher than the $\sim 650~GeV$ previously obtained. Preliminary numerical work indicates that an increase of at least 19\% takes place at $N=4$ on the $F_4$ lattice when the old simple action is replaced with a new action (still containing only nearest neighbor interactions) if one uses the lattice spacing as the physical cutoff for both actions. It appears that, while a QCD like theory could produce $M_H / F ~ \sim 6$, a meaningful ``minimal elementary Higgs'' theory cannot have M_H/ F~ \gtapprox 3. Still, even at 750 $GeV$, the Higgs particle is so wide ($\sim 290~$GeV), that one cannot argue any more that the scalar sector is weakly coupled.Comment: 8 pages. Latex file with 4 ps figures included. Preprint RU-92-22, SCRI-92-11

Framework for non-perturbative analysis of a Z(3)-symmetric effective theory of finite temperature QCD

We study a three dimensional Z(3)-symmetric effective theory of high temperature QCD. The exact lattice-continuum relations, needed in order to perform lattice simulations with physical parameters, are computed to order O(a^0) in lattice perturbation theory. Lattice simulations are performed to determine the phase structure of a subset of the parameter space.Comment: 28 pages, 11 figures; v3: references rearranged, typos corrected, figs changed, published versio

Lattice quark propagator with staggered quarks in Landau and Laplacian gauges

We report on the lattice quark propagator using standard and improved Staggered quark actions, with the standard, Wilson gauge action. The standard Kogut-Susskind action has errors of \oa{2} while the ``Asqtad'' action has \oa{4}, \oag{2}{2} errors. The quark propagator is interesting for studying the phenomenon of dynamical chiral symmetry breaking and as a test-bed for improvement. Gauge dependent quantities from lattice simulations may be affected by Gribov copies. We explore this by studying the quark propagator in both Landau and Laplacian gauges. Landau and Laplacian gauges are found to produce very similar results for the quark propagator.Comment: 11 pages, 15 figure

Single spin asymmetries in inclusive hadron production from SIDIS to hadronic collisions: universality and phenomenology

In a perturbative QCD approach, with inclusion of spin and transverse momentum effects, experimental data on azimuthal asymmetries observed in polarized semi-inclusive deeply inelastic scattering and e+ e- annihilations can be used to determine the Sivers, transversity and Collins soft functions. By using these functions, within the same scheme, we predict p(transv. polarized) p -> h + X single spin asymmetries in remarkable agreement with RHIC experimental data.Comment: 5 pages, 6 ps figure