Interface Tension in Quenched QCD

Abstract

We calculate the tension $\sigma$ of the interface between the confined and deconfined phases by the histogram method in SU(3) lattice gauge theory for temporal extents of 4 and 6 using the recent high-statistics data by QCDPAX collaboration. The results are $\sigma/T_c^3 = 0.0292(22)$ and 0.0218(33) for $N_t=4$ and 6, respectively. The ratio $\sigma/T_c^3$ shows a scaling violation similar to that already observed for the latent heat $\latent$. However, we find that the physically interesting dimensionless combinations $(\sigma^{3}/\latent^2 T)^{1/2}$ and $\sigma T/ \latent$ scale within the statistical errors.