Critical point in the QCD phase diagram for extremely strong background magnetic fields

Lattice simulations have demonstrated that a background (electro)magnetic field reduces the chiral/deconfinement transition temperature of quantum chromodynamics for eB < 1 GeV^2. On the level of observables, this reduction manifests itself in an enhancement of the Polyakov loop and in a suppression of the light quark condensates (inverse magnetic catalysis) in the transition region. In this paper, we report on lattice simulations of 1+1+1-flavor QCD at an unprecedentedly high value of the magnetic field eB = 3.25 GeV^2. Based on the behavior of various observables, it is shown that even at this extremely strong field, inverse magnetic catalysis prevails and the transition, albeit becoming sharper, remains an analytic crossover. In addition, we develop an algorithm to directly simulate the asymptotically strong magnetic field limit of QCD. We find strong evidence for a first-order deconfinement phase transition in this limiting theory, implying the presence of a critical point in the QCD phase diagram. Based on the available lattice data, we estimate the location of the critical point.Comment: 22 pages, 20 figures. v2: small changes in title and text; version accepted for publication in JHE

The equation of state at high temperatures from lattice QCD

We present results for the equation of state upto previously unreachable, high temperatures. Since the temperature range is quite large, a comparison with perturbation theory can be done directly.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, Lattice 200

The nature of the finite temperature QCD transition as a function of the quark masses

The finite temperature QCD transition for physical quark masses is a crossover. For smaller quark masses a first-order phase transition is expected. Using Symanzik improved gauge and stout improved fermion action for 2+1 flavour staggered QCD we give estimates/bounds for the phase line separating the first-order region from the crossover one. The calculations are carried out on two different lattice spacings. Our conclusion for the critical mass is $m_0 \lesssim 0.07 \cdot m_{phys}$ for $N_T=4$ and $m_0 \lesssim 0.12 \cdot m_{phys}$ for $N_T=6$ lattices.Comment: Talk presented at the XXV International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, July 30 - August 4 2007, Regensburg, Germany. 7 pages, 6 figure

Determination of Freeze-out Conditions from Lattice QCD Calculations

Freeze-out conditions in Heavy Ion Collisions are generally determined by comparing experimental results for ratios of particle yields with theoretical predictions based on applications of the Hadron Resonance Gas model. We discuss here how this model dependent determination of freeze-out parameters may eventually be replaced by theoretical predictions based on equilibrium QCD thermodynamics.Comment: presented at the International Conference "Critical Point and Onset of Deconfinement - CPOD 2011", Wuhan, November 7-11, 201

Lattice SU(3) thermodynamics and the onset of perturbative behaviour

We present the equation of state (pressure, trace anomaly, energy density and entropy density) of the SU(3) gauge theory from lattice field theory in an unprecedented precision and temperature range. We control both finite size and cut-off effects. The studied temperature window ($0.7... 1000 T_c$) stretches from the glueball dominated system into the perturbative regime, which allows us to discuss the range of validity of these approaches. From the critical couplings on fine lattices we get T_c/\Lambdamsbar=1.26(7) and use this ratio to express the perturbative free energy in $T_c$ units. We also determine the preferred renormalization scale of the Hard Thermal Loop scheme and we fit the unknown $g^6$ order perturbative coefficient at extreme high temperatures $T>100T_c$. We furthermore quantify the nonperturbative contribution to the trace anomaly using two simple functional forms.Comment: 7 pages, Contribution to the The XXVIII International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory; June 14 - 19, 2010, Villasimius, Sardinia, Ital

N_f=2+1 flavour equation of state

We conclude our investigation on the QCD equation of state (EoS) with 2+1 staggered flavors and one-link stout improvement. We extend our previous study [JHEP 0601:089 (2006)] by choosing even finer lattices. These new results [for details see arXiv:1007.2580] support our earlier findings. Lattices with N_t=6,8 and 10 are used, and the continuum limit is approached by checking the results at N_t=12. A Symanzik improved gauge and a stout-link improved staggered fermion action is taken; the light and strange quark masses are set to their physical values. Various observables are calculated in the temperature (T) interval of 100 to 1000~MeV. We compare our data to the equation of state obtained by the "hotQCD" collaboration.Comment: presented at the XXVIII. International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, June 14-19,2010, Villasimius, Sardinia Ital

Local CP-violation and electric charge separation by magnetic fields from lattice QCD

We study local CP-violation on the lattice by measuring the local correlation between the topological charge density and the electric dipole moment of quarks, induced by a constant external magnetic field. This correlator is found to increase linearly with the external field, with the coefficient of proportionality depending only weakly on temperature. Results are obtained on lattices with various spacings, and are extrapolated to the continuum limit after the renormalization of the observables is carried out. This renormalization utilizes the gradient flow for the quark and gluon fields. Our findings suggest that the strength of local CP-violation in QCD with physical quark masses is about an order of magnitude smaller than a model prediction based on nearly massless quarks in domains of constant gluon backgrounds with topological charge. We also show numerical evidence that the observed local CP-violation correlates with spatially extended electric dipole structures in the QCD vacuum.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figures. Additional lattice results about the induced electric dipole structure, extended model description, specified terminology. Version published in JHE

The QCD equation of state and the effects of the charm

We present an update on the QCD equation of state of the Wuppertal-Budapest Collaboration, extending our previous studies [JHEP 0601 (2006) 089, JHEP 1011 (2010) 077]. A Symanzik improved gauge and a stout-link improved staggered fermion action is utilized. We discuss partial quenching and present preliminary results for the fully dynamical charmed equation of state.Comment: Talk presented at the XXIX International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, July 10-16, 2011, Lake Tahoe, Californi

Thermal momentum distribution from path integrals with shifted boundary conditions

For a thermal field theory formulated in the grand canonical ensemble, the distribution of the total momentum is an observable characterizing the thermal state. We show that its cumulants are related to thermodynamic potentials. In a relativistic system for instance, the thermal variance of the total momentum is a direct measure of the enthalpy. We relate the generating function of the cumulants to the ratio of (a) a partition function expressed as a Matsubara path integral with shifted boundary conditions in the compact direction, and (b) the ordinary partition function. In this form the generating function is well suited for Monte-Carlo evaluation, and the cumulants can be extracted straightforwardly. We test the method in the SU(3) Yang-Mills theory and obtain the entropy density at three different temperatures.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, minor revisions; version accepted in PR

QCD-Thermodynamics using 5-dim Gravity

We calculate the critical temperature and free energy of the gluon plasma using the dilaton potential arXiv:0911.0627[hep-ph] in the gravity theory of AdS/QCD. The finite temperature observables are calculated in two ways: first, from the Page-Hawking computation of the free energy, and secondly using the Bekenstein-Hawking proportionality of the entropy with the area of the horizon. Renormalization is well defined, because the T=0 theory has asymptotic freedom. We further investigate the change of the critical temperature with the number of flavours induced by the change of the running coupling constant in the quenched theory. The finite temperature behaviour of the speed of sound, spatial string tension and vacuum expectation value of the Polyakov loop follow from the corresponding string theory in AdS_5.Comment: 38 pages, 12 figure