Confinement study of an SU(4) gauge theory with fermions in multiple representations

TL;DR

This study investigates phase transitions in an SU(4) gauge theory with fermions in multiple representations using novel and traditional diagnostics, revealing sensitive indicators of confinement and deconfinement.

Contribution

The paper introduces a new Wilson flow diagnostic, the 'long flow time Polyakov loop,' alongside established methods, enhancing phase detection in complex gauge theories.

Findings

Flow anisotropy effectively detects deconfinement transition.

The 'long flow time Polyakov loop' provides a sharp phase diagnostic.

Multiple diagnostics agree on phase transition points.

Abstract

We discuss the phase diagnostics used in our finite-temperature study of an SU(4) gauge theory with dynamical fermions in both the fundamental and two-index antisymmetric representations. Beyond the usual Polyakov loop diagnostics of confinement, we employ several Wilson flow phase diagnostics. The first, what we call the "flow anisotropy", is known in the literature: the deconfinement transition introduces anisotropy between the spatial and temporal directions, to which the flow is extremely sensitive. The second, the "long flow time Polyakov loop," is related but novel. While we do not claim to fully understand this diagnostic, we have empirically found it to be useful as an unusually sharp diagnostic of phase.