Prof. Andre Peshier (University of Cape Town, SA)

Tracing the QCD pressure

Being interested in how a strongly coupled system approaches asymptotic freedom, we re-examine existing precision lattice QCD results for thermodynamic properties of the gluon plasma in a large temperature range. We discuss and thoroughly test the applicability of perturbative results, on which grounds we then infer that the pressure and other bulk properties approach the free limit somewhat slower than previously thought, and we revise the value of the first non-perturbative coefficient in the weak-coupling expansion.