Chiral symmetry restoration and the Z3 sectors of QCD

Abstract

Quenched SU(3) lattice gauge theory shows three phase transitions, namely the chiral, the deconfinement and the Z3 phase transition. Knowing whether or not the chiral and the deconfinement phase transition occur at the same temperature for all Z3 sectors could be crucial to understand the underlying microscopic dynamics. We use the existence of a gap in the Dirac spectrum as an order parameter for the restoration of chiral symmetry. We find that the spectral gap opens up at the same critical temperature in all Z3 sectors in contrast to earlier claims in the literature.