Center phase transition from matter propagators in (scalar) QCD

TL;DR

This paper introduces new order parameters based on matter propagators with boundary conditions to identify the confinement-deconfinement phase transition in quenched QCD and scalar QCD, validated through Dyson-Schwinger equation studies.

Contribution

It presents novel order parameters for phase transition detection in scalar QCD using generalized matter propagators, applicable even with heavy scalar matter.

Findings

Order parameters successfully detect phase transition signatures.

Discontinuity in order parameters indicates transition even without propagator signatures.

Scalar matter can serve as a probe for color confinement.

Abstract

Novel order parameters for the confinement-deconfinement phase transition of quenched QCD and fundamentally charged scalar QCD are presented. Similar to the well-known dual condensate, they are defined via generalized matter propagators with $U(1)$-valued boundary conditions. The order parameters are easily accessible with functional methods. Their validity and accessibility is explicitly demonstrated by numerical studies of the Dyson-Schwinger equations for the matter propagators. Even in the case of heavy scalar matter, where the propagator does not show a signature of the phase transition, a discontinuity due to the transition can be extracted in the order parameters, establishing also fundamentally charged scalar matter as a probe for color confinement.