2012/06/30 by Robert D. Pisarski, Vladimir V. Skokov · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #hep-lat #hep-ph #hep-th #nucl-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.86.081701
7pages, 1 figure; discussion on matrix models is extended; references are added
arxiv created 2013/05/30 · arxiv updated 2015/06/05
We study the deconfining phase transition at nonzero temperature in a SU(N) gauge theory, using a matrix model which was analyzed previously at small N. We show that the model is soluble at infinite N, and exhibits a Gross-Witten-Wadia transition. In some ways, the deconfining phase transition is of first order: at a temperature Td, the Polyakov loop jumps discontinuously from 0 to1/2, and there is a nonzero latent heat ∼ N2. In other ways, the transition is of second order: e.g., the specific heat diverges as C ∼ 1/(T-Td)3/5 when T → Td+. Other critical exponents satisfy the usual scaling relations of a second order phase transition. In the presence of a nonzero background field h for the Polyakov loop, there is a phase transition at the temperature Th where the value of the loop =1/2, with Th < Td. Since ∂ C/∂ T ∼ 1/(T-Th)1/2 as T → Th+, this transition is of third order.