Quantum simulations of strongly coupled quark-gluon plasma

TL;DR

This paper uses quantum Monte Carlo simulations to study the properties of a strongly coupled quark-gluon plasma, revealing its liquid-like nature and the survival of bound states above the critical temperature.

Contribution

It introduces a quantum path-integral Monte Carlo method for simulating the QGP, providing new insights into its internal structure and thermodynamic properties.

Findings

QGP exhibits liquid-like behavior rather than gas-like.

Bound quark-antiquark states survive above the critical temperature.

Quantum effects are crucial for accurate simulations.

Abstract

A strongly coupled quark-gluon plasma (QGP) of heavy constituent quasiparticles is studied by a path-integral Monte-Carlo method, which improves the corresponding classical simulations by extending them to the quantum regime. It is shown that this method is able to reproduce the lattice equation of state and also yields valuable insight into the internal structure of the QGP. The results indicate that the QGP reveals liquid-like rather than gas-like properties. At temperatures just above the critical one it was found that bound quark-antiquark states still survive. These states are bound by effective string-like forces. Quantum effects turned out to be of prime importance in these simulations.