Nonperturbative effects in QCD at Finite Temperature and Density

Abstract

These lecture notes illustrate the application of Dyson-Schwinger equations in QCD. The extensive body of work at zero temperature and chemical potential is represented by a selection of contemporary studies that focus on solving the Bethe-Salpeter equation, deriving an exact mass formula in QCD that describes light and heavy pseudoscalar mesons simultaneously, and the calculation of the electromagnetic pion form factor and the vector meson electroproduction cross sections. These applications emphasise the qualitative importance of the momentum-dependent dressing of elementary Schwinger functions in QCD, which provides a unifying connection between disparate phenomena. They provide a solid foundation for an extension of the approach to nonzero temperature and chemical potential. The essential, formal elements of this application are described and four contemporary studies employed to exemplify the method and its efficacy. They study the demarcation of the phase boundary for deconfinement and chiral symmetry restoration, the calculation of bulk thermodynamic properties of the quark-gluon plasma and the response of pi- and rho-meson observables to T and mu. Along the way a continuum order parameter for deconfinement is introduced, an anticorrelation between the response of masses and decay constants to T and their response to mu elucidated, and a (T,mu)-mirroring of the slow approach of bulk thermodynamic quantities to their ultrarelativistic limit highlighted. These effects too are tied to the momentum-dependent dressing of the elementary Schwinger functions.

Summary of five lectures at the Research Workshop on Deconfinement at Finite Temperature and Density, JINR Dubna, Russia, October 1-29, 1997. 68 pages, 47 figures, LaTeX, epsfig.sty

References in corpus (5)

• Deconfinement at finite chemical potential
• Thermodynamics using Wilson and Staggered Quarks
• Analysis of chiral and thermal susceptibilities
• QCD bound states and their response to extremes of temperature and density
• Differences between heavy and light quarks

Cited by in corpus (15)

• Dyson-Schwinger Equations: Density, Temperature and Continuum Strong QCD
• Collective perspective on advances in Dyson-Schwinger Equation QCD
• Explanation and Prediction of Observables using Continuum Strong QCD
• QCD phase transitions via a refined truncation of Dyson-Schwinger equations
• Three Lectures on Hadron Physics
• T-dependence of pseudoscalar and scalar correlations
• Nucleon form factors and a nonpointlike diquark
• Describing a1 and b1 decays
• Selected nucleon form factors and a composite scalar diquark
• Diquarks: condensation without bound states
• Hadronic Observables from Dyson-Schwinger and Bethe-Salpeter equations
• Deconfinement and Hadron Properties at Extremes of Temperature and Density
• Zero mode in a strongly coupled quark gluon plasma
• K -> pi pi and a light scalar meson
• A kinetic approach to eta' production from a CP-odd phase