On critical scaling at the QCD N_f=2 chiral phase transition

Understand

We investigate the critical scaling of the quark propagator of N_f=2 QCD close to the chiral phase transition at finite temperature.

• We argue that it is mandatory to take into account the back-reaction effects of pions and the sigma onto the quark to observe critical behavior beyond mean field.
• On condition of self-consistency of the quark Dyson-Schwinger equation we extract the scaling behavior for the quark propagator analytically.
• Crucial in this respect is the correct pion dispersion relation when the critical temperature is approached from below.