Two-flavor QCD at finite temperature and chemical potential in a functional approach

TL;DR

This paper uses the Dyson-Schwinger formalism to analyze the phase transitions in two-flavor QCD at finite temperature and chemical potential, highlighting differences between SU(2) and SU(3) theories and the nature of the chiral and deconfinement transitions.

Contribution

It provides a detailed comparison of quenched SU(2) and SU(3) gauge theories and extends the analysis to unquenched QCD at finite chemical potential, identifying the phase transition behaviors.

Findings

Clear distinction between second order and weak first order transitions in SU(2) and SU(3) theories.

Identification of a critical endpoint at large chemical potential where phase transitions coincide.

Inclusion of matter effects in the gluon propagator influences the phase transition characteristics.

Abstract

We summarize recent results obtained in the Dyson-Schwinger formalism to study the chiral and deconfinement phase transitions of quenched and unquenched QCD at finite temperature and chemical potential. In the quenched case we compare SU(2) and SU(3) gauge theories by taking lattice data for the gluon as an input for the quark Dyson-Schwinger equation. As compared to previous investigations we find a clearer distinction between the second order transition of the two-color theory and the (weak) first order transition of the three-color gauge theory. We then extend this study to unquenched QCD at finite chemical potential by taking matter effects to the gluon into account and investigate the order of the chiral phase transition and the behavior of the deconfinement transition. What we find are coinciding phase transitions up to a critical endpoint which is located at large chemical potential.