Phase transition(s) in finite density QCD

Abstract

The Grand Canonical formalism is generally used in numerical simulations of finite density QCD since it allows free mobility in the chemical potential µ. We show that special care has to be used in extracting numerical results to avoid dramatic rounding effects and spurious transition signals. If we analyze data correctly, with reasonable statistics, no signal of first order phase transition is present and results using the Glasgow prescription are practically coincident with the ones obtained using the modulus of the fermionic determinant.