QCD Thermodynamics with Almost Realistic Quark Masses

TL;DR

This paper reports on ongoing lattice QCD calculations aiming to determine the critical temperature and equation of state with near-physical quark masses, providing insights relevant for heavy ion collision experiments.

Contribution

It presents preliminary results on quark mass and cut-off dependence of key QCD thermodynamic quantities using advanced supercomputers.

Findings

Initial estimates of critical temperature and order parameters

Dependence of susceptibilities on quark mass and cut-off

Insights into static quark potentials

Abstract

Ongoing calculations on the QCDOC supercomputer at Brookhaven National Laboratory and the APEnext installation at the University of Bielefeld aim to determine the critical temperature of the QCD phase transition as well as the equation of state with almost realistic quark masses. We will discuss preliminary results of the quark mass and cut-off dependence of order parameters, susceptibilities, static quark potentials and the critical temperature in (2+1)-flavor QCD. All these quantities are of immediate interest for heavy ion phenomenology.