Bulk Thermodynamics of SU(N) Lattice Gauge Theories at Large-N

TL;DR

This study investigates the thermodynamics of pure SU(N) gauge theories at large N, revealing similarities with SU(3) and providing insights into the strongly interacting deconfined phase relevant for RHIC physics.

Contribution

It demonstrates that bulk thermodynamic quantities at large N closely match those at N=3, supporting the use of large N as a simplified model for strongly interacting gauge theories.

Findings

Pressure and entropy deficits at large N are similar to SU(3).

Large N simplifies analytical approaches to deconfined phase physics.

Results support using large N to understand RHIC physics.

Abstract

We present a study of bulk thermodynamical quantities in the deconfined phase of pure lattice SU(N) gauge theories. We find that the deficit in pressure and entropy with respect to their free-gas values, for N=4,8, is remarkably close to that of SU(3). Th is suggests that understanding the strongly interacting nature of the deconfined phase, which is crucial for RHIC physics, can be done at large N. There, different analytical approaches simplify or become soluble, and one can check their predictions and point to their important ingredients.