Towards the QCD phase diagram with functional methods

The main objective is a realistic description of the dynamics of strongly-interacting matter under extreme conditions, i.e., at non-vanishing temperatures and/or densities. This necessitates to treat the underlying theory of the strong interactions, Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), beyond perturbation theory. Here, the method of choice, in particular at finite density, is the non-perturbative functional renormalization group (FRG). The degrees of freedom of strongly interacting matter in the low-temperature/low-density phase are baryons and mesons, which are treated as QCD bound states. In contrast, in the high-temperature/high-density phases the underlying degrees of freedom are quarks and gluons. Chiral and deconfinement aspects of the QCD phase structure at finite temperatures and densities are a major focus of this proposal. One target is the qualitative and quantitative improvement of effective models towards full dynamical QCD. The functional renormalization group technique offers a unique way to systematically improve effective QCD models towards ab initio QCD. The theoretical predictions aimed at in this proposal are of significant relevance for the planned experiments at the FAIR and JINR facilities in Darmstadt, Germany, and in Dubna, Russia, respectively and enable a fundamental and conceptual understanding of hadronic matter under extreme conditions from first principles.

No additional funding sources recorded.