# Anisotropic pressure induced by finite-size effects in SU(3) Yang-Mills theory

## TL;DR

This paper investigates how finite-size effects induce pressure anisotropy in SU(3) Yang-Mills theory at finite temperature, using lattice simulations and gradient flow techniques to analyze stress tensor behavior.

## Contribution

It provides the first detailed lattice study of pressure anisotropy caused by finite-size effects in SU(3) Yang-Mills theory at nonzero temperature.

## Key findings

- Finite-size effects on pressure anisotropy are significant only at short spatial extents.
- Pressure anisotropy effects are less pronounced than in free scalar theories at comparable sizes.
- Gradient flow effectively captures stress tensor components in lattice simulations.

## Abstract

We study the pressure anisotropy in anisotropic finite-size systems in SU(3) Yang-Mills theory at nonzero temperature. Lattice simulations are performed on lattices with anisotropic spatial volumes with periodic boundary conditions. The energy-momentum tensor defined through the gradient flow is used for the analysis of the stress tensor on the lattice. We find that a clear finite-size effect in the pressure anisotropy is observed only at a significantly shorter spatial extent compared with the free scalar theory, even when accounting for a rather large mass in the latter.