Quark and Gluon Latent Heats at the Deconfinement Phase Transition in SU(3) Gauge Theory

Abstract

The authors have run computer simulations of the quark and gluon internal energies in SU(3) lattice gauge theory neglecting dynamical fermion loops. At the first-order deconfinement-chiral symmetry restoration transition the internal energies display large discontinuities. With finite-size effects estimated by a procedure suggested by the Bielefeld group, the total latent heat per unit volume is found to be roughly 1.50±0.50 GeV/${\mathrm{fm}}^3$, if the transition temperature is 190±20 MeV. Timing estimates for fermion computer simulation methods are presented.