Scaling behavior in two-flavor QCD, finite quark masses and finite volume effects

Understand

The question of the exact nature of the phase transition in two-flavor QCD is still under discussion.

• Recent results for small quark masses in simulations with 2+1 flavors show scaling behavior consistent with the O(4) or O(2) universality class.
• For a precise determination, an assessment of deviations from the ideal scaling behavior due to finite quark masses and finite simulation volumes is necessary.
• We study the scaling behavior at the chiral phase transition with an effective quark-meson model.