Polyakov line actions from SU(3) lattice gauge theory with dynamical fermions via relative weights

TL;DR

This paper derives an effective Polyakov line action from SU(3) lattice gauge theory with dynamical fermions using the relative weights method, highlighting the importance of long-range couplings in phase structure and metastability.

Contribution

It introduces a method to extract and analyze an effective Polyakov line action from lattice gauge theory with dynamical fermions, incorporating center-symmetry breaking and long-range interactions.

Findings

Long-range couplings significantly influence phase structure.

Metastable states are observed in the effective theory.

Only one metastable state matches the underlying gauge theory.

Abstract

We extract an effective Polyakov line action from an underlying SU(3) lattice gauge theory with dynamical fermions via the relative weights method. The center-symmetry breaking terms in the effective theory are fit to a form suggested by effective action of heavy-dense quarks, and the effective action is solved at finite chemical potential by a mean field approach. We show results for a small sample of lattice couplings, lattice actions, and lattice extensions in the time direction. We find in some instances that the long-range couplings in the effective action are very important to the phase structure, and that these couplings are responsible for long-lived metastable states in the effective theory. Only one of these states corresponds to the underlying lattice gauge theory.