Thermodynamics of SU(3) Lattice Gauge Theory

Abstract

The pressure and the energy density of the $SU(3)$ gauge theory are calculated on lattices with temporal extent $N_\tau = 4$, 6 and 8 and spatial extent $N_\sigma =16$ and 32. The results are then extrapolated to the continuum limit. In the investigated temperature range up to five times $T_c$ we observe a $15\%$ deviation from the ideal gas limit. We also present new results for the critical temperature on lattices with temporal extent $N_\tau = 8$ and 12. At the corresponding critical couplings the string tension is calculated on $32^4$ lattices to fix the temperature scale. An extrapolation to the continuum limit yields $T_c/\sqrt{\sigma} = 0.629(3)$. We furthermore present results on the electric and magnetic condensates as well as the temperature dependence of the spatial string tension. These observables suggest that the temperature dependent running coupling remains large even at $T\simeq 5T_c$. For the spatial string tension we find $\sqrt{\sigma_s}/T = 0.566(13) g^2(T)$ with $g^2(5T_c) \simeq 1.5$.