Obstructions to dimensional reduction in hot QCD

Abstract

I describe results on screening masses in hot gauge theories. Wilsonian effective long distance theories called dimensionally reduced (DR) theories describe very well the longest screening length in pure gauge theories. In the presence of fermions, meson-like screening lengths dominate the long-distance physics for 3T_c/2 < T < 3 T_c, and thus obstruct perturbative DR. Extrapolation of our results indicates that a form of this obstruction may remain till temperatures of 10 T_c or higher, and therefore affect the entire range of temperature expected to be reached even at the Large Hadron Collider.