The finite temperature phase transition in four flavour QCD on an 8×12 ³ lattice

Summary, in English

We present results of a numerical study of lattice QCD with four dynamical flavours of staggered fermions, performed by using a hybrid Monte Carlo algorithm on an 8×12 ³ lattice. We find a rapid change in the average value of the Polyakov loop at β _c =5.25±0.025 for a quark mass ma=0.025; at this mass value, the behaviour of the chiral order parameter, 〈ΨΨ〉 does not yet allow an independent determination of the transition point. Using existing hadron mass calculations, the value of β _c we have obtained here would lead to a transition temperature T∼100 MeV.