Quark-gluon plasma at finite baryon density: A large-Ncapproach

Abstract

A simple model for the quark-gluon plasma with a nonzero baryon number B is developed in a microcanonical (i.e., fixed B) approach. The model exhibits features which one expects will emerge from a nonperturbative treatment of QCD. We show the existence of a critical chemical potential ${\mu }_c$ such that, for T>0, physical properties are unaffected by chemical potentials μ when ‖μ‖<${\mu }_c$. ${\mu }_c$ therefore resembles a mass gap.