Related papers: Polyakov loop and QCD thermodynamics from the gluo…
When studied at finite temperature, Yang-Mills theories in $3+1$ dimensions display the presence of confinement/deconfinement phase transitions, which are known to be of first order -- the $SU(2)$ gauge theory being the exception.…
We extend the covariant variational approach for SU(N) Yang-Mills theory in Landau gauge to non-zero temperatures. The renormalization of the zero-temperature case is revisited and it is shown that the same counterterms are sufficient to…
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.…
We use the recently obtained two-loop hard thermal loop perturbation theory thermodynamics functions of a plasma of quarks and gluons to compute the diagonal second- and fourth-order quark number susceptibilities. The two-loop hard thermal…
Effective three-dimensional Polyakov loop theories derived from QCD by strong coupling and hopping expansions are valid for heavy quarks and can also be applied to finite chemical potential $\mu$, due to their considerably milder sign…
We show that the Polyakov loop approaches its asymptotic value at high temperatures {\it from below} in any strongly-coupled gauge theory at large $N_c$ with a dual supergravity description. In these theories the Polyakov loop can be used…
We put forward a continuum approach for computing finite temperature correlation functions in Yang-Mills theory. This is done in a functional renormalisation group setting which allows for the construction of purely thermal RG-flows. This…
We study the thermodynamics and phase diagrams of two-flavor quantum chromodynamics using the Polyakov-loop extended quark-meson (PQM) model and the Pisarski-Skokov chiral matrix ($\chi M$) model. At temperatures up to $T\approx2T_c$ and…
A synthesis of Polyakov loop models of the deconfinement transition and quasiparticle models of gluon plasma thermodynamics leads to a class of models in which gluon quasiparticles move in a non-trivial Polyakov loop background. These…
In an extension of the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model where the quarks interact with the temporal gluon field, represented by the Polyakov loop, we explore the relation between the deconfinement and chiral phase transitions. The effect of…
We consider the SU(2) lattice gauge theory at finite temperature in (d+1) dimensions, with different couplings $\beta_t$ and $\beta_s$ for timelike and spacelike plaquettes. By using the character expansion of the Wilson action and…
We present results from numerical lattice calculations of SU(4) Yang-Mills theory. This work has two goals: to determine the order of the finite temperature deconfinement transition on an $N_t = 6$ lattice and to study the string tensions…
The deconfinement and chiral phase transitions are studied in the context of the electrized quark matter at finite temperature in the two-flavor Polyakov-Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model. Using the mean field approximation and an electric field…
Confinement may be more easily demonstrated at finite temperature using the Polyakov loop than at zero temperature using the Wilson loop. A natural mechanism for confinement can arise via the coupling of the adjoint Polyakov loop to F_{mu…
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…
We extend a previous investigation of the QCD phase diagram with heavy quarks in the context of background field methods by including the two-loop corrections to the background field effective potential. The nonperturbative dynamics in the…
Using a Dyson--Schwinger approach, we perform an analysis of the non-trivial ground state of thermal $SU(N)$ Yang--Mills theory in the non-perturbative regime where chiral symmetry is dynamically broken by a mass gap. Basic thermodynamic…
The gauge group being centreless, $G_2$ gauge theory is a good laboratory for studying the role of the centre of the group for colour confinement in Yang-Mills gauge theories. In this paper, we investigate $G_2$ pure gauge theory at finite…
Landau gauge gluon propagators are studied numerically in the SU(3) gluodynamics as well as in the full QCD with the number of flavors $n_F=2$ using efficient gauge fixing technique. We compare these propagators at temperatures very close…
We consider a three-dimensional effective theory of Polyakov lines derived previously from lattice Yang-Mills theory and QCD by means of a resummed strong coupling expansion. The effective theory is useful for investigations of the phase…