Deconfining phase transition in a finite volume with massive particles: finite size and finite mass effects

Abstract

We study the deconfining phase transition from a hadronic gas phase consisting of massive pions to a quark–gluon plasma (QGP) phase containing gluons, massless up and down quarks, and massive strange quarks. The two phases are supposed to coexist in a finite volume, and the finite size effects are studied, in the two cases of thermally driven and density driven deconfining phase transitions. Finite-mass effects are also examined, then the color-singletness condition for the QGP is taken into account and finite size effects are investigated in this case also.