Latent heat of the large N finite temperature phase transition

TL;DR

This paper investigates the latent heat associated with a phase transition in large N gauge theories at finite temperature, providing evidence for a non-zero latent heat in the continuum limit and discussing the implications for spatial reduction.

Contribution

It presents measurements of the latent heat in large N gauge theories, testing the spatial reduction hypothesis at high temperatures.

Findings

Non-zero latent heat observed in the continuum limit.

Finite spacing effects are significant, requiring finer lattices.

Supports the conjecture linking phase transitions to spatial reduction.

Abstract

Reduced large N gauge theories have a phase with unbroken center symmetry and phases in which that symmetry is broken for Polyakov loops in one or more lattice directions. The phase with unbroken symmetry is associated with the zero temperature, infinite volume, infinite N theory while the phase in which the symmetry is broken in just one lattice direction has been conjectured to be the spatial reduction of the high temperature, infinite volume, infinite N theory. Measurements of the scaling properties of the latent heat of the transition between these phases test that hypothesis. The results indicate a non-zero latent heat in the continuum limit. Substantial finite spacing effects remain, and finer lattices will be needed to confirm physical scaling.