Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) is the theory of strong interactions between quarks and gluons that make up hadrons, such as protons and neutrons. This project will support theoretical and computational work to study the properties of this fundamental force at low temperatures, where quarks and gluons are bound together into hadrons, and high temperatures, where quarks and gluons interact weekly and form a quark-gluon plasma. A post-doctoral fellow will be mentored by the PI to work on several aspects of the proposal. Numerical computations will use high-performance computing systems, and results obtained as part of this project will be presented at international conferences in nuclear and particle physics.QCD belongs to a class of (QCD-like) theories that exhibit a transition from confinement (hadronic matter) at low temperature or density to asymptotic freedom (quark matter) at high temperature or density. This project will study the fundamental features of QCD-like theories by studying them at finite physical volume using a new global observable. The project will also study confinement by exploring the properties of certain hadronic matter called hybrid/exotic mesons that are unique to QCD-like theories. In addition, this study will address related topics such as the existence of tetraquarks. The grand canonical ensemble for QCD-like theories at finite density will be rewritten as a sum over canonical ensembles to study two-dimensional QCD. The lessons learned there will be used to explore the feasibility for studying four-dimensional QCD at finite density.
