The Stefan–Boltzmann law in a small box and the pressure deficit in hot SU(N) lattice gauge theory

摘要

The blackbody radiation in a box L3 with periodic boundary conditions in thermal equilibrium at a temperature T is affected by finite-size effects. These bring about modifications of the thermodynamic functions which can be expressed in a closed form in terms of the dimensionless parameter LT. For instance, when LT ~ 4—corresponding to the value where the most reliable SU(N) gauge lattice simulations have been performed above the deconfining temperature Tc—the deviation of the free energy density from its thermodynamic limit is about 5%. This may account for almost half of the pressure deficit observed in lattice simulations at T ~ 4Tc.