The Free Energy of Spherical Bubbles in Lattice SU(3) Gauge Theory

TL;DR

This paper investigates the free energy coefficients of spherical bubbles in lattice SU(3) gauge theory at the critical temperature, providing numerical results that align with theoretical models and previous estimates.

Contribution

It offers the first lattice Monte Carlo determination of the free energy expansion coefficients for spherical bubbles in pure glue QCD at the critical temperature.

Findings

Coefficient c_3 vanishes at T_c.

Coefficient c_1's sign and magnitude agree with MIT bag model predictions.

Coefficient c_2 is small, consistent with earlier studies.

Abstract

We study the coefficients of the expansion $F(R) = 1/3 c_3 R^3 + 1/2 c_2 R^2 + c_1 R$ of the free energy of spherical bubbles at $T=T_c$ in pure glue QCD using lattice Monte Carlo techniques. The coefficient $c_3$ vanishes at $T=T_c$ and our results suggest that the sign and the order of magnitude of $c_1$ is in agreement with the value $c_1=\pm 32\pi T_c^2/9$ (- for hadronic bubbles in quark phase, + for quark bubbles in hadronic phase) computed by Mardor and Svetitsky from the MIT bag model. The parameter $c_2$ is small in agreement with earlier determinations.