Center Domains and their Phenomenological Consequences

TL;DR

This paper proposes that the domain structure of deconfined QCD matter, inferred from Polyakov loop properties, explains both the quark-gluon plasma's opacity and its near ideal fluid behavior.

Contribution

It introduces a domain-based model of QCD matter that accounts for key experimental features of the quark-gluon plasma.

Findings

Domain structure explains plasma opacity

Domain structure accounts for fluid properties

Model aligns with experimental observations

Abstract

We argue that the domain structure of deconfined QCD matter, which can be inferred from the properties of the Polyakov loop, can simultaneously explain the two most prominent experimentally verified features of the quark-gluon plasma, namely its large opacity as well as its near ideal fluid properties.