Comments on the compatibility of thermodynamic equilibrium conditions with lattice propagators

TL;DR

This paper examines whether lattice-derived non-perturbative quark and gluon propagators can produce consistent equations of state for self-gravitating objects, considering physical constraints like causality and stability.

Contribution

It demonstrates that small parameter adjustments in lattice propagator fits can satisfy key physical conditions, impacting models of quark stars.

Findings

A small parameter change (~10%) can ensure all physical conditions are met.

Certain temperature ranges prevent defining a unique pressure-density relation.

Similar results are found for gluon propagators.

Abstract

In this paper the compatibility is analyzed of the non-perturbative equations of state of quarks and gluons arising from the lattice with some natural requirements for self-gravitating objects at equilibrium: the existence of an equation of state (namely, the possibility to define the pressure as a function of the energy density), the absence of superluminal propagation and Le Chatelier's principle. It is discussed under which conditions it is possible to extract an equation of state (in the above sense) from the non-perturbative propagators arising from the fits of the latest lattice data. In the quark case, there is a small but non-vanishing range of temperatures in which it is not possible to define a single-valued functional relation between density and pressure. Interestingly enough, a small change of the parameters appearing in the fit of the lattice quark propagator (of around 10~\%) could guarantee the fulfillment of all the three conditions (keeping alive, at the same time, the violation of positivity of the spectral representation, which is the expected signal of confinement). As far as gluons are concerned, the analysis shows very similar results. Whether or not the non-perturbative quark and gluon propagators satisfy these conditions can have a strong impact on the estimate of the maximal mass of quark stars.