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Equation of state and surface tension of QCD in the first order phase transition region

Yuan-jun Mei1, Yi Lu2,*, Fei Gao1,†, and Yu-xin Liu2,3,4,‡

  • *Contact author: qwertylou@pku.edu.cn
  • †Contact author: fei.gao@bit.edu.cn
  • ‡Contact author: yxliu@pku.edu.cn
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Phys. Rev. D 113, 034006 – Published 5 February, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/nx7r-4ffq

Abstract

We build up a complete description of QCD phase structure by applying the parametrization of the chiral and deconfinement order parameters upon the calculations from functional QCD approaches. In particular in the first order phase transition region at high chemical potential, both the phase transition line using Maxwell construction and the coexistence boundary lines from the spinodal decomposition are determined. We compute the thermodynamic quantities including the number density, the energy density, the pressure, and also the free energy for both stable and unstable phases of QCD. Additionally, after applying a phenomenological description of the inhomogeneity of the QCD free energy, we obtain the surface tension of the first order phase transition of QCD.

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Phys. Rev. D 113, 034006– Published 5 February, 2026
  • Received 9 August 2025
  • Accepted 15 January 2026
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