Numerical test of Polyakov loop models in high temperature SU(2)

TL;DR

This paper evaluates effective mean-field models of the Polyakov loop against lattice data for SU(2) gauge theories in the high-temperature deconfined phase, testing their accuracy from just above the critical temperature up to nearly five times higher.

Contribution

It provides a detailed numerical comparison between mean-field Polyakov loop models and lattice simulations for SU(2) at high temperatures.

Findings

Models show varying degrees of agreement with lattice data.

Certain mean-field models accurately reproduce the Polyakov loop behavior.

Results inform the development of effective theories for high-temperature QCD.

Abstract

We study the compatibility of effective mean-field models of the Polyakov loop for the deconfined phase of SU(N) pure gauge theories with lattice data obtained for the case of SU(2), in the temperature range T_c - 4.8 T_c.