Bulk and finite- temperature transitions in SU(3) gauge theories with many light fermions

Abstract

We investigate finite-temperature transitions in SU(3) lattice gauge theories with N f = 8 and 12 staggered fermions in the fundamental representation. For both of these systems, we have observed a strongly-coupled lattice phase in which the single-site shift symmetry of the staggered action is spontaneously broken. Here we report new results for finite-temperature transitions on 24 3 12 and 32 3 16 lattice volumes, contrasting the 8-and 12-flavor systems. While the N f = 12 finite-temperature transitions accumulate at the bulk transition bounding the stronglycoupled lattice phase, the N f = 8 finite-temperature transitions are able to pass through the bulk transition, and behave as expected for a QCD-like system. We discuss our current results and the work in progress to complete our investigation of the finite-temperature phase diagram.