In this work we introduce the concept of Cartan-Polyakov loops, a special subset of Polyakov loops in the fundamental representation of the $\mathrm{SU}(N_c)$ group, with charges $k=1,\ldots,(N_c-1)/2$. It constitutes a sufficient set of independent degrees of freedom and it is used to parametrize the thermal Wilson line. Polyakov loops not contained in this set are classified as non-Cartan-Polyakov loops. Using properties of the characteristic polynomial of the thermal Wilson line, we write a non-Cartan-Polyakov loop charge decomposition formula. This formalism allows one to readily build effective models of quarks and gluons with an arbitrary number of colors. We apply it to the Polyakov$-$Nambu$-$Jona-Lasinio model and to an effective glue model, in the mean field approximation, showing how to directly extend these models to higher values of $N_c$.
We estimate the temperature dependence of the gluon condensate from the Polyakov loop effective potential. It is presented how this analytic approach provides a simple picture for the electric gluon condensate around the deconfinement temperature, showing that it drops to zero in a temperature range which is in good agreement with different pure gauge lattice results.
Based on first principle QCD arguments, it has been argued in arXiv:1204.2424[hep-ph] that the vacuum expectation value of the Polyakov loop can be represented in the hadron resonance gas model. We study this within the Polyakov-constituent quark model by implementing the quantum and local nature of the Polyakov loop hep-ph/0412308, hep-ph/0607338. The existence of exotic states in the spectrum is discussed.
We present a quasiparticle model for the pure gauge sector of QCD, in which transverse quasigluons propagate in a Polyakov loop background field. By incorporating thermodynamic self-consistency in the approach, we show that our Polyakov loop extended quasiparticle model allows an accurate description of recent lattice results for all the thermodynamic quantities, including the Polyakov loop expectation value, in the deconfined phase. The related quasigluon mass exhibits a distinct temperature dependence, which is connected with the non-perturbative behavior seen in the scaled interaction measu…
We study the interpretation of Lattice data about the thermodynamics of the deconfinement phase of SU(3) Yang-Mills theory, in terms of gluon quasiparticles propagating in a background of a Polyakov loop. A potential for the Polyakov loop, inspired by the strong coupling expansion of the QCD action, is introduced; the Polyakov loop is coupled to tranverse gluon quasiparticles by means of a gas-like effective potential. This study is useful to identify the effective degrees of freedom propagating in the gluon medium above the critical temperature. A main general finding is that a dominant part …
Based on quantum statistical mechanics we show that the $SU(3)$ color singlet ensemble of a quark-gluon gas exhibits a $Z(3)$ symmetry through the normaized character in fundamental representation and also becomes equivalent, within a stationary point approximation, to the ensemble given by Polyakov Loop. Also Polyakov Loop gauge potential is obtained by considering spatial gluons along with the invariant Haar measure at each space point. The probability of the normalized character in $SU(3)$ vis-a-vis Polyakov Loop is found to be maximum at a particular value exhibiting a strong color correla…
We study a model of quark-gluon plasma of 2+1 flavors Quantum Chromodynamics in terms of quasiparticles propagating in a condensate of Polyakov loops. The Polyakov loop is coupled to quasiparticles by means of a gas-like effective potential. This study is useful to identify the effective degrees of freedom propagating in the medium above the critical temperature. Our finding is that a dominant part of the phase transition dynamics is accounted for by the Polyakov loop, hence the thermodynamics can be described without the need for rapidly increasing quasiparticle masses as $T \rightarrow T_c$,…
We investigate the quark backreaction on the Polyakov loop and its impact on the thermodynamics of quantum chromodynamics. The dynamics of the gluons generating the Polyakov-loop potential is altered by the presence of dynamical quarks. However, this backreaction of the quarks has not yet been taken into account in Polyakov-loop extended model studies. In the present work, we show within a 2+1 flavour Polyakov-quark-meson model that a quark-improved Polyakov-loop potential leads to a smoother transition between the low-temperature hadronic phase and the high-temperature quark-gluon plasma phas…
We calculate the Polyakov loop susceptibilities in the SU(3) lattice gauge theory using the Symanzik improved gauge action on different-sized lattices. The longitudinal and transverse fluctu- ations of the Polyakov loop, as well as, that of its absolute value are considered. We analyze their properties in relation to the confinement-deconfinement phase transition. We also present results based on simulations of (2+1)-flavor QCD on 32^3 x 8 lattice using Highly Improved Staggered Quark (HISQ) action by the HotQCD collaboration. The influences of fermions on the Polyakov loop fluctuations are di…
We derive the Polyakov-loop thermodynamic potential in the perturbative approach to pure SU(3) Yang-Mills theory. The potential expressed in terms of the Polyakov loop in the fundamental representation corresponds to that of the strong-coupling expansion, of which the relevant coefficients of the gluon energy distribution are specified by characters of the SU(3) group. At high temperature, the potential exhibits the correct asymptotic behavior, whereas at low temperature, it disfavors gluons as appropriate dynamical degrees of freedom. To quantify the Yang-Mills thermodynamics in confined phas…
We consider the pseudocritical temperatures for the chiral and deconfinement transitions within a Polyakov-loop Dyson-Schwinger equation approach which employs a nonlocal rank-2 separable model for the effective gluon propagator. These pseudocritical temperatures differ by a factor of two when the quark and gluon sectors are considered separately, but get synchronized and become coincident when their coupling is switched on. The coupling of the Polyakov-loop to the chiral quark dynamics narrows the temperature region of the QCD transition in which chiral symmetry and deconfinement is establish…
We investigate quark deconfinement by calculating the effective potential of the Polyakov loop using the non-perturbative propagators in the Landau gauge measured in the finite-temperature lattice simulation. With the leading term in the 2-particle-irreducible formalism the resultant effective potential exhibits a first-order phase transitions for the pure SU(3) Yang-Mills theory at the critical temperature consistent with the empirical value. We also estimate the thermodynamic quantities to confirm qualitative agreement with the lattice data near the critical temperature. We then apply our ef…
We have computed shear viscosity coefficient for hot and dense QCD matter within Polyakov loop extended quark meson(PQM) model for three flavors. Viscosity coefficient is estimated using Boltzmann equation within the relaxation time approximation. Relaxation times for quarks are calculated from elastic scattering of quarks and antiquarks via gluon exchange. Also the mean free paths of strange and light quarks are estimated for this cases. The calculations are performed at finite chemical potential. Thermodynamic properties like energy, pressure, entropy densities are also computed and compared…
We present a unified approach to the thermodynamics of hadron-quark-gluon matter at finite temperatures on the basis of a quark cluster expansion in the form of a generalized Beth-Uhlenbeck approach with a generic ansatz for the hadronic phase shifts that fulfills the Levinson theorem. The change in the composition of the system from a hadron resonance gas to a quark-gluon plasma takes place in the narrow temperature interval of $150 - 185$ MeV where the Mott dissociation of hadrons is triggered by the dropping quark mass as a result of the restoration of chiral symmetry. The deconfinement of …
The Polyakov loop potential serves to distinguish between the confined hadronic and the deconfined quark-gluon plasma phases of QCD. For Nf=2+1 quark flavors with physical masses we determine the Polyakov loop potential at finite temperature and density and extract the location of the deconfinement transition. We find a cross-over at small values of the chemical potential running into a critical end-point at mu/T > 1.
The properties of the quark-gluon plasma(QGP) in the presence of baryon chemical potential are studied using the Field Correlator Method(FCM). At low densities the QGP thermodynamics with the colormagnetic confinement and the Polyakov line interaction is in good agreement with lattice data,and the speed of sound satisfies $C_s^2\leq \frac13$,but in the intermediate range of densities the speed of sound displays a singular behaviour and one needs density modifications of the Polyakov line interaction to avoid instabilities. In particular for $μ_q >0.5$ GeV there exists a region in the $(μ, T)$ …
我们描述了如何耦合的胶子Polyakov圈夸克解决了不同的不一致的手征夸克模型在有限温度下的一个夸克圈水平的标准治疗。大规范不变性被纳入和夸克和Polyakov圈作为基本自由度的有效理论产生。从这个分析中，我们发现一个强有力的抑制有限温度效应的强子观测值以下的解除限制相变触发的近似triality守恒在一个阶段，其中手征对称性自发打破（Polyakov冷却）。我们还提出了一个简单的唯象模型来描述在解除禁闭阶段的重整化Polyakov回路的可用晶格数据。我们的分析表明，在T_c < T <6T_c区域，由2维胶子凝聚驱动的非微扰贡献主导了Polyakov环的行为。
Electric and magnetic screenings of the thermal gluons are studied by using the background expansion method in a gluodynamic model with dimension-2 gluon condensate. At low temperature, the electric and magnetic gluons are degenerate. With the increasing of temperature, it is found that the electric and magnetic gluons start to split at certain temperature $T_0$. The electric screening mass changes rapidly with temperature when $T>T_0$, and the Polyakov loop expectation value rises sharply around $T_0$ from zero in the vacuum to a value around 0.8 at high temperature. This suggests that the co…
The present work generalizes a nonlocal version of the Polyakov loop-extended Nambu and Jona-Lasinio (PNJL) model to the case of three active quark flavors, with inclusion of the axial U(1) anomaly. Gluon dynamics is incorporated through a gluonic background field, expressed in terms of the Polyakov loop. The thermodynamics of the nonlocal PNJL model accounts for both chiral and deconfinement transitions. Our results obtained in mean-field approximation are compared to lattice QCD results for $N_\text{f}=2+1$ quark flavors. Additional pionic and kaonic contributions to the pressure are calcula…
We review theoretical aspects of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) at finite temperature. The most important physical variable to characterize hot QCD is the Polyakov loop, which is an approximate order parameter for quark deconfinement in a hot gluonic medium. Additionally to its role as an order parameter, the Polyakov loop has rich physical contents in both perturbative and non-perturbative sectors. This review covers a wide range of subjects associated with the Polyakov loop from topological defects in hot QCD to model building with coupling to the Polyakov loop.
Thermodynamics and the phase structure of the Polyakov loop-extended two flavor chiral quark-meson model (PQM) are explored. The analysis of the PQM model is based on the functional renormalization group (FRG) method. An appropriate truncation of the effective action with quarks coupled to background gluonic fields is introduced. Within this scheme, we derive the renormalization group flow equation for the scale-dependent thermodynamic potential at finite temperature and density in the presence of a symmetry breaking external field. The influence of fluctuations and of the background gluon fie…
We show how excited states in QCD can be profitably used to build up the Polyakov loop in the fundamental representation at temperatures below the hadron-quark-gluon crossover. The conditions under which a Hagedorn temperature for the Polyakov loop can be defined are analysed.
The equation of state of SU(3) Yang-Mills theory can be modelled by an effective $Z_3-$symmetric potential $V(\vertϕ\vert,ϕ^3+ϕ^{3*}, T)$ depending on the temperature $T$ and on a scalar field $ϕ$ -- the averaged Polyakov loop. Allowing $ϕ$ to be dynamical opens the way to the study of spatially localized classical configurations of the Polyakov loop. We first show that spherically symmetric static Q-balls exist in the range $(1-1.21)\times T_c$, $T_c$ being the deconfinement temperature. Then we argue that Q-holes solutions, if any are unphysical within our framework. Finally we couple the Po…
We use the Polyakov loop coupled quark-meson model to approximate low energy QCD and present results for the chiral and deconfinement transitions in the presence of a constant magnetic background $B$ at finite temperature $T$ and baryon chemical potential $μ_B$. We investigate effects of various gluoni potentials on the deconfinement transition with and without a fermionic backreaction at finite $B$. Additionally we investigate the effect of the Polyakov loop on the chiral phase transition, finding that magnetic catalysis at low $μ_B$ is present, but weakened by the Polyakov loop.
We study the spatial inhomogeneity of the Polyakov loop induced by inhomogeneous chiral condensates. We formulate an effective model of gluons on the background fields of chiral condensates, and perform its lattice simulation. On the background of inhomogeneous chiral condensates, the Polyakov loop exhibits an in-phase spatial oscillation with the chiral condensates. We also analyze the heavy quark potential and show that the inhomogeneous Polyakov loop indicates the inhomogeneous confinement of heavy quarks.
We apply the path optimization method to a QCD effective model with the Polyakov loop at finite density to circumvent the model sign problem. The Polyakov-loop extended Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model is employed as the typical QCD effective model and then the hybrid Monte-Carlo method is used to perform the path integration. To control the sign problem, the path optimization method is used with complexification of temporal gluon fields to modify the integral path in the complex space. We show that the average phase factor is well improved on the modified integral-path compared with that on the orig…
We explore the thermodynamics and phase structure of the Polyakov loop-extended two flavor chiral quark--meson (PQM) model beyond the mean-field approximation at imaginary chemical potential. Our approach is based on the functional renormalization group (FRG) method. At finite temperature and imaginary chemical potential, we solve the renormalization group flow equation for a scale-dependent thermodynamic potential in the presence of the gluonic background field. We determine behavior of order parameters of the PQM model in the FRG approach and compute the phase diagram. We compare our FRG res…
We formulate a method for computing the effective Lagrangian of the Polyakov line on the lattice. Using mean field approximation we calculate the effective potential for high temperatures. The result agrees with recent lattice simulations. We reveal a new type of ultraviolet divergence (coming from longitudinal gluons) which dominates the effective potential and explains the discrepancy of the lattice simulations and standard perturbative calculations performed in covariant gauges.
We calculate the transport coefficients, drag and momentum diffusion, of a heavy quark in a thermalized plasma of light quarks in the background of Polyakov loop. Quark thermal mass and the gluon Debye mass are calculated in a non-trivial Polyakov loop background. The constituent quark masses and the Polyakov loop is estimated within a Polyakov loop quark meson (PQM) model. The relevant scattering amplitudes for heavy quark and light partons in the background of Polyakov loop has been estimated within the matrix model. We have also compared the results with the Polyakov loop parameter estimate…
We derive the Polyakov-loop thermodynamic potential in the perturbative approach to pure SU(3) Yang-Mills theory. The potential expressed in terms of the Polyakov loop in the fundamental representation corresponds to that of the strong-coupling expansion, of which the relevant coefficients of the gluon energy distribution are specified by characters of the SU(3) group. At high temperatures the derived gluon potential exhibits the correct asymptotic behavior, whereas at low temperatures, it disfavors gluons as appropriate dynamical degrees of freedom. In order to quantify the Yang-Mills thermod…
Thermodynamics of the quark-gluon plasma at finite density is studied in the framework of the Field Correlator Method, where thermodynamical effects of Polyakov loops and colormagnetic confinement are taken into account. Having found good agreement with numerical lattice data for zero density, we calculate pressure $P(T,\,μ)$ for $0 <μ< 400$ MeV and $150 <T< 1000$ MeV. For the first time the explicit intergral form is found in this region,demonstrating analytic structure in the complex $μ$ plane. The resulting multiple complex branch points are found at the Roberge-Weiss values of $\operatorna…
We revisit the Polyakov Loop coupled Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model that maintains the Polyakov loop dynamics in the limit of zero temperature. This is of interest for astrophysical applications in the interior of neutron stars. For this purpose we re-examine the form of the potential for the deconfinement order parameter at finite baryonic densities. Since the modification of this potential at any temperature is formally equivalent to assigning a baryonic charge to gluons, we develop a more general formulation of the present model that cures this spurious effect and is normalized to match the asymp…
We calculate the production of dileptons and photons in the presence of a nontrivial Polyakov loop in QCD. This is applicable to the semi-Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP), at temperatures above but near the critical temperature for deconfinement. The Polyakov loop is small in the semi-QGP, and near unity in the perturbative QGP. Working to leading order in the coupling constant of QCD, we find that there is a mild enhancement, ~ 20%, for dilepton production in the semi-QGP over that in the perturbative QGP. In contrast, we find that photon production is strongly suppressed in the semi-QGP, by about an…
It is believed that there exists a rich phase structure of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) at finite temperature and baryon density, namely, the deconfinement process from hadron gas to quark-gluon plasma, the transition from chiral symmetry breaking phase to the symmetry restoration phase, and the color superconductivity at low temperature and high baryon density. In the present work we study the hadron-quark phase transition by investigating the binodal surface and extending it to finite temperature in order to mimic the QCD phase diagram. In order to obtain these conditions we use different mo…
At nonzero temperature in QCD, about the deconfining phase transition there is a "semi" quark gluon plasma (semi-QGP), where the expectation value of the (renormalized) Polyakov loop is less than one. This can be modeled by a semiclassical expansion about a constant field for the vector potential, A_0, which is diagonal in color. We compute the shear viscosity in the semi-QGP by using the Boltzmann equation in the presence of this background field. To leading, logarithmic order in weak coupling, the dominant diagrams are given by the usual scattering processes of 2 -> 2 particles. For simplici…
Polyakov loops $L_a(T), a=3,8,...$ are shown to give the most important nonperturbative contribution to the thermodynamic potentials. Derived from the gluonic field correlators they enter as factors into free energy. It is shown in the $SU(3)$ case that $L_a (T)$ define to a large extent the behavior of the free energy and the trace anomaly $I(T)$, most sensitive to nonperturbative effects.
In the present paper, we return to the problem on a spontaneous generation of the $A_0$-background field in QCD at finite temperature and include in addition a quark chemical potential, $μ$. We reproduce the known expressions in terms of Bernoulli's polynomials for the gluons and quarks using the same formalism. Then we calculate the $μ$-dependence, both for small $μ$ as expansion, and numerically for finite $μ$. One result is that the chemical potential only weakly changes the values of the condensed field, but quite strongly deepens the minima of the effective potential. The gauge dependence…
We investigate the effective potential of the Polyakov loop, which is the order parameter for the deconfinement phase transition in finite temperature QCD. Our work is based on the Hamiltonian approach in Coulomb gauge where finite temperature $T$ is introduced by compactifying one space direction. We briefly review this approach and extend earlier work in the Yang-Mills sector by including dynamical quarks. In a first approximation, we follow the usual functional approach and include only one-loop contributions to the energy, with the finite temperature propagators replaced by their $T=0$ cou…
We investigate the temperature and magnetic field dependence of the Polyakov loop and heavy quark entropy in a bottom-up Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton (EMD) holographic model for the strongly coupled quark-gluon plasma (QGP) that quantitatively matches lattice data for the $(2+1)$-flavor QCD equation of state at finite magnetic field and physical quark masses. We compare the holographic EMD model results for the Polyakov loop at zero and nonzero magnetic fields and the heavy quark entropy at vanishing magnetic field with the latest lattice data available for these observables and find good agreemen…
