Finite Temperature QCD with Wilson Quarks: A Study with a Renormalization Group Improved Gauge Action

Abstract

Finite temperature transition in lattice QCD with degenerate Wilson quarks is investigated on an $N_t=4$ lattice, using a renormalization group improved gauge action. We find the following for the $N_F=2$ case: 1) The transition is smooth for a wide range of the quark mass. 2) The chiral transition is continuous. 3) The chiral condensation well satisfies a scaling relation with the critical exponents of the 3 dimensional $O(4)$ spin model. For $N_F=3$, we find that the chiral transition is of first order.