Finite Temperature QCD with Wilson Quarks: A Study with a Renormalization Group Improved Gauge Action

TL;DR

This study investigates finite temperature phase transitions in lattice QCD with Wilson quarks using a renormalization group improved gauge action, revealing a smooth transition for two flavors and a first-order transition for three flavors.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the nature of chiral phase transitions in lattice QCD with Wilson quarks at finite temperature, including scaling behavior and order of transition.

Findings

Smooth chiral transition for N_F=2

First-order transition for N_F=3

Chiral condensate follows O(4) scaling

Abstract

Finite temperature transition in lattice QCD with degenerate Wilson quarks is investigated on an $N_t=4$ lattice, using a renormalization group improved gauge action. We find the following for the $N_F=2$ case: 1) The transition is smooth for a wide range of the quark mass. 2) The chiral transition is continuous. 3) The chiral condensation well satisfies a scaling relation with the critical exponents of the 3 dimensional $O(4)$ spin model. For $N_F=3$, we find that the chiral transition is of first order.