SU(3) thermodynamics on small lattices Original Research Article

The free energy density of the SU(3) gauge theory at temperatures T/Tc = 4/3, 3/2 and 2 is calculated on lattices with temporal extent as small as Nτ = 2,3 and spatial extent Nδ = 4Nτ using parametrized fixed point actions. Although cut-off effects are seen, they are hugely suppressed with respect to Wilson and Symanzik-improved actions and at Nτ = 3 there is already a good agreement with the continuum limit as extrapolated from the results with the Wilson action at Nτ = 6 and 8.