Poisson to Random Matrix Transition in the QCD Dirac Spectrum

Abstract

At zero temperature the lowest part of the spectrum of the QCD Dirac operator is known to consist of delocalized modes that are described by random matrix statistics. In the present paper we show that the nature of these eigenmodes changes drastically when the system is driven through the finite temperature cross-over. The lowest Dirac modes that are delocalized at low temperature become localized on the scale of the inverse temperature. At the same time the spectral statistics changes from random matrix to Poisson statistics. We demonstrate this with lattice QCD simulations using 2+1 flavors of light dynamical quarks with physical masses. Drawing an analogy with Anderson transitions we also examine the mobility edge separating localized and delocalized modes in the spectrum. We show that it scales in the continuum limit and increases sharply with the temperature.