Using net quark number gain to probe the phases of QCD
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: We discuss an observable that probes the content of a QCD medium at finite temperature and chemical potential, the net quark number gain. It is the response of the thermal bath to a static quark or antiquark probe. While insignificant at high temperatures, it reveals the bath’s tendency to form meson-like or hadron-like configurations (depending on the probe and chemical potential) at low temperatures, which would screen the probe’s color charge. The net quark number gain also helps explain how a single quark/antiquark can be added to a supposedly confining medium in the first place: the latter provides the missing quarks/antiquarks to form hadron-like states. We sketch the derivation of this general result for temperatures much smaller than the constituent quark masses and discuss possible further applications to study the various features of the QCD phase diagram.
Authors: V. Tomas Mari Surkau, Urko Reinosa
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $1,800
OpenAlex ID: W4415422742