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

Understand

We investigate finite-temperature transitions in SU(3) lattice gauge theories with Nf=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 24^3x12 and 32^3x16 lattice volumes, contrasting the 8- and 12-flavor systems.
• While the Nf=12 finite-temperature transitions accumulate at the bulk transition bounding the strongly-coupled lattice phase, the Nf=8 finite-temperature transitions are able to pass through the bulk transition, and behave as expected for a QCD-like system.