Enthalpy-Based Thermal Response and Its Exact Relation to the Speed of Sound in Finite-Temperature QCD
Abstract
A precise characterization of the QCD phase transition remains a fundamental open problem, primarily due to the intrinsically non-perturbative nature of the dynamics that govern the breakdown of We quantify the logarithmic thermal variation of the normalized enthalpy density in finite-temperature Quantum Chromodynamics using a dimensionless response thermal function, ℋ(T). We establish an exact identity that links ℋ(T) to the speed of sound, cs2(T). Using continuum-extrapolated lattice Quantum Chromodynamics, Monte Carlo uncertainty propagation, and cubic spline interpolation, we extract a stable peak at Tpeak ≈ 153.6 MeV (ℋpeak ≈ 6.24), which remains robust under changes in the smoothing parameter s. By contrast, ℋ(T) = 0 for the MIT Bag Model despite its non-vanishing trace anomaly. We highlight ℋ(T) as an effective diagnostic of the QCD crossover and discuss its limitations for universal critical scaling at zero chemical potential.
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BibTeX
@misc{campos2026enthalpybased,
title = {{Enthalpy-Based Thermal Response and Its Exact Relation to the Speed of Sound in Finite-Temperature QCD}},
author = {S. D. Campos},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2608.02649},
eprint = {2608.02649},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.02649},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Enthalpy-Based Thermal Response and Its Exact Relation to the Speed of Sound in Finite-Temperature QCD
AU - S. D. Campos
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/07
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2608.02649
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.02649
AB - A precise characterization of the QCD phase transition remains a fundamental open problem, primarily due to the intrinsically non-perturbative nature of the dynamics that govern the breakdown of We quantify the logarithmic thermal variation of the normalized enthalpy density in finite-temperature Quantum Chromodynamics using a dimensionless response thermal function, ℋ(T). We establish an exact identity that links ℋ(T) to the speed of sound, c_s^2(T). Using continuum-extrapolated lattice Quantum Chromodynamics, Monte Carlo uncertainty propagation, and cubic spline interpolation, we extract a stable peak at T_peak ≈ 153.6 MeV (ℋ_peak ≈ 6.24), which remains robust under changes in the smoothing parameter s. By contrast, ℋ(T) = 0 for the MIT Bag Model despite its non-vanishing trace anomaly. We highlight ℋ(T) as an effective diagnostic of the QCD crossover and discuss its limitations for universal critical scaling at zero chemical potential.
ER -