Hot and dense QCD equation of state from the complex Langevin equation
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Michael Mandl, Dénes Sexty, Daniel Unterhuber · arXiv: 2610.38466v1 · Summary page
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Computing the thermodynamics of dense quark matter
A new simulation preprint reports the equation of state of hot, dense quantum chromodynamics, the theory governing quarks and gluons. Using the complex Langevin approach, the authors obtain results at the physical pion mass and extrapolate toward the continuum, removing the discretization of space and time used in the calculation. They report energy, entropy and enthalpy densities, together with heat capacity, as temperature and baryon chemical potential change.
An equation of state connects microscopic interactions to bulk behavior: how matter stores energy, responds to heating and changes under compression. Extending such calculations into the high-density regime is therefore a bridge between fundamental particle theory and the thermodynamics of extreme matter. These results concern temperatures above the crossover; they do not establish the behavior of colder dense matter.
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