Thermodynamics of the quark-gluon plasma at finite chemical potential: color path integral Monte Carlo results

TL;DR

This paper uses color quantum path-integral Monte Carlo methods to study the thermodynamics of the quark-gluon plasma at finite chemical potential, revealing insights into its internal structure and bound states.

Contribution

It extends previous zero chemical potential simulations to finite chemical potential, demonstrating the applicability of color PIMC below and above the QCD critical temperature.

Findings

Color PIMC reproduces lattice QCD results for the equation of state.

Gluon pair distribution functions indicate gluon-gluon bound states at low temperatures.

No evidence of meson-like bound states at the studied conditions.

Abstract

Based on the constituent quasiparticle model of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP), color quantum path-integral Monte-Carlo (PIMC) calculations of the thermodynamic properties of the QGP are performed. We extend our previous zero chemical potential simulations to the QGP at finite baryon chemical potential. The results indicate that color PIMC can be applied not only above the QCD critical temperature $T_c$ but also below $T_c$. Besides reproducing the lattice equation of state our approach yields also valuable additional insight into the internal structure of the QGP, via the pair distribution functions of the various quasiparticles. In particular, the pair distribution function of gluons reflects the existence of gluon-gluon bound states at low temperatures and $\mu=175$ MeV, i.e. glueballs, while meson-like bound states are not found.