FINITE-TEMPERATURE PHASE-TRANSITION OF SU(3) GAUGE-THEORY ON NT=4 AND 6 LATTICES

The deconfining finite-temperature transition of SU(3) gauge theory is studied on the dedicated parallel computer QCDPAX. Monte Carlo simulations are performed on 12(2) X 24 X 4, 24(2) X 36 X 4, 20(3) X 6, 24(3) X 6, and 36(2) X 48 X 6 lattices with 376 000 to 1112 000 iterations. The finite size scaling behavior of the first-order transition is confirmed both on the N(t) = 4 and N(t) = 6 lattices and clear two-phase structures are observed on spatially large lattices (24(2) X 36 X 4 and 36(2) X 48 X 6). The latent heat at the deconfining transition is estimated both by a direct measurement of the gap on the spatially large lattices and by applying a finite-size scaling law. The results obtained by these two independent methods are remarkably consistent with each other on both the N(t) = 4 and 6 lattices. The latent heat for N(t) = 6 is much smaller than that for N(t) = 4 and is about 1/3 of the Stefan-Boltzmann value 8pi2/15. The details of the data and the error analysis are presented.