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Polyakov-loop potential of accelerated gluonic matter and thermodynamic subtleties

Hao-Lei Chen1,2,*, Kenji Fukushima3,†, Yu-Han Gao4, Xu-Guang Huang4,5,2,‡, Yusuke Shimada6,§, and Zhi-Bin Zhu4

  • 1Department of Physics, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China
  • 2Shanghai Research Center for Theoretical Nuclear Physics, National Natural Science Foundation of China and Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
  • 3Department of Physics, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
  • 4Physics Department and Center for Particle Physics and Field Theory, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
  • 5Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Ion-beam Application (MOE), Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
  • 6Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kyoto University, Kitashirakawa Oiwakecho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan

  • *Contact author: hlchen@shu.edu.cn
  • †Contact author: fuku@nt.phys.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp
  • ‡Contact author: huangxuguang@fudan.edu.cn
  • §Contact author: yusuke.shimada@yukawa.kyoto-u.ac.jp
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Phys. Rev. D 114, 054012 – Published 8 September, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/gq9n-vzrg

Abstract

We study the one-loop Polyakov-loop effective potential in pure gluonic matter under constant acceleration. We perform the computation in both the Euclidean Rindler spacetime and the optical spacetime, which are related via a conformal transformation. The results from the two formulations correspond to physically different observables, and we clarify their connection to specific components of the energy-momentum tensor. This identification resolves a discrepancy previously noted for fields on conical backgrounds. For the Polyakov-loop expectation value, we should minimize the effective potential computed in the optical metric formulation, which concludes that real acceleration strengthens deconfining properties. We also discuss analytic continuation from real to imaginary acceleration and find a perturbatively confined phase. We point out some suggestive similarities and differences between systems under imaginary acceleration and imaginary rotation.

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Phys. Rev. D 114, 054012– Published 8 September, 2026
  • Received 17 June 2026
  • Accepted 30 July 2026
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