The impact of quark masses on pQCD thermodynamics

TL;DR

This paper investigates how non-zero quark masses influence thermodynamic properties in perturbative QCD at finite temperature and chemical potential, comparing results with lattice data and higher-order calculations.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed next-to-leading order analysis of quark mass effects on QCD thermodynamics including comparisons with lattice and optimized perturbative results.

Findings

Mass corrections significantly affect thermodynamic quantities.

Next-to-leading order results align better with lattice data.

Mass effects alter the trend of thermodynamic behavior.

Abstract

We present results for several thermodynamic quantities within the next-to-leading order calculation of the thermodynamic potential in perturbative QCD at finite temperature and chemical potential including non-vanishing quark masses. These results are compared to lattice data and to higher-order optimized perturbative calculations to investigate the trend brought about by mass corrections.