Phase diagram at finite temperature and quark density in the strong coupling limit of lattice QCD for color SU(3)

TL;DR

This paper derives an analytical phase diagram for quark matter at finite temperature and density in the strong coupling limit of lattice QCD, revealing the nature of phase transitions and baryon effects.

Contribution

It provides the first analytical expression of the effective free energy including baryon effects in this regime, elucidating the phase structure of quark matter.

Findings

First order transition at low T

Second order transition at high T

Baryons extend the hadron phase to larger chemical potential

Abstract

We study the phase diagram of quark matter at finite temperature (T) and finite chemical potential (mu) in the strong coupling limit of lattice QCD for color SU(3). We derive an analytical expression of the effective free energy as a function of T and mu, including baryon effects. The finite temperature effects are evaluated by integrating over the temporal link variable exactly in the Polyakov gauge with anti-periodic boundary condition for fermions. The obtained phase diagram shows the first order phase transition at low temperatures and the second order phase transition at high temperatures separated by the tri-critical point in the chiral limit. Baryon has effects to reduce the effective free energy and to extend the hadron phase to a larger mu direction at low temperatures.