No Arabic abstract
We extract the spectral functions in the scalar, pseudo-scalar, vector, and axial vector channels above the deconfinement phase transition temperature (Tc) using the maximum entropy method (MEM). We use anisotropic lattices, 32^3 * 32, 40, 54, 72, 80, and 96 (corresponding to T = 2.3 Tc --> 0.8 Tc), with the renormalized anisotropy xi = 4.0 to have enough temporal data points to carry out the MEM analysis. Our result suggests that the spectral functions continue to possess non-trivial structures even above Tc and in addition that there is a qualitative change in the state of the deconfined matter between 1.5 Tc and 2 Tc.
We compute charmonium spectral functions in 2-flavour QCD using the maximum entropy method and anisotropic lattices. We find that the S-waves (J/psi and eta_c) survive up to temperatures close to 2T_c, while the P-waves (chi_c0 and chi_c1) melt away below 1.3T_c.
We study the temperature dependence of bottomonium for temperatures in the range $0.4 T_c < T < 2.1 T_c$, using nonrelativistic dynamics for the bottom quark and full relativistic lattice QCD simulations for $N_f=2$ light flavors on a highly anisotropic lattice. We find that the $Upsilon$ is insensitive to the temperature in this range, while the $chi_b$ propagators show a crossover from the exponential decay characterizing the hadronic phase to a power-law behaviour consistent with nearly-free dynamics at $T simeq 2 T_c$.
Fluctuations of conserved charges allow to study the chemical composition of hadronic matter. A comparison between lattice simulations and the Hadron Resonance Gas (HRG) model suggested the existence of missing strange resonances. To clarify this issue we calculate the partial pressures of mesons and baryons with different strangeness quantum numbers using lattice simulations in the confined phase of QCD. In order to make this calculation feasible, we perform simulations at imaginary strangeness chemical potentials. We systematically study the effect of different hadronic spectra on thermodynamic observables in the HRG model and compare to lattice QCD results. We show that, for each hadronic sector, the well established states are not enough in order to have agreement with the lattice results. Additional states, either listed in the Particle Data Group booklet (PDG) but not well established, or predicted by the Quark Model (QM), are necessary in order to reproduce the lattice data. For mesons, it appears that the PDG and the quark model do not list enough strange mesons, or that, in this sector, interactions beyond those included in the HRG model are needed to reproduce the lattice QCD results.
The nature of the QCD chiral phase transition in the limit of vanishing quark masses has remained elusive for a long time, since it cannot be simulated directly on the lattice and is strongly cutoff-dependent. We report on a comprehensive ongoing study using unimproved staggered fermions with $N_text{f}in[2,8]$ mass-degenerate flavours on $N_tauin{4,6,8}$ lattices, in which we locate the chiral critical surface separating regions with first-order transitions from crossover regions in the bare parameter space of the lattice theory. Employing the fact that it terminates in a tricritical line, this surface can be extrapolated to the chiral limit using tricritical scaling with known exponents. Knowing the order of the transitions in the lattice parameter space, conclusions for approaching the continuum chiral limit in the proper order can be drawn. While a narrow first-order region cannot be ruled out, we find initial evidence consistent with a second-order chiral transition in all massless theories with $N_text{f}leq 6$, and possibly up to the onset of the conformal window at $9lesssim N_text{f}^*lesssim 12$. A reanalysis of already published $mathcal{O}(a)$-improved $N_text{f}=3$ Wilson data on $N_tauin[4,12]$ is also consistent with tricritical scaling, and the associated change from first to second-order on the way to the continuum chiral limit. We discuss a modified Columbia plot and a phase diagram for many-flavour QCD that reflect these possible features.
We study the thermal transition of QCD with two degenerate light flavours by lattice simulations using $O(a)$-improved Wilson quarks. Temperature scans are performed at a fixed value of $N_t = (aT)^{-1}=16$, where $a$ is the lattice spacing and $T$ the temperature, at three fixed zero-temperature pion masses between 200 MeV and 540 MeV. In this range we find that the transition is consistent with a broad crossover. As a probe of the restoration of chiral symmetry, we study the static screening spectrum. We observe a degeneracy between the transverse isovector vector and axial-vector channels starting from the transition temperature. Particularly striking is the strong reduction of the splitting between isovector scalar and pseudoscalar screening masses around the chiral phase transition by at least a factor of three compared to its value at zero temperature. In fact, the splitting is consistent with zero within our uncertainties. This disfavours a chiral phase transition in the $O(4)$ universality class.