Conveners

Claudio Bonanno, BernaFrithjof Karsch, University of BielefeldMaria Paola Lombardo, INFN Guy Moore, T. U. DarmstadtChrsitian Schmidt, University of Bielefeld

General Motivation

In this unit we plan to cover material relevant for the study of strong interactions in extreme conditions of temperature and densities, with and without magnetic fields. One would learn how to define the theory at finite temperature and densities, and how to study the relevant phases, and phase transitions. A contemporary set of results will be presented as well.

Prerequisites

Units: Essentials (in depth), Critical phenomena and RG (in depth) , numerical and statistical analysis (elements), renormalisation and improvement (elements).

Thermal
Field
Theory

Syllabus

- - Basics of Finite Temperature Field Theory Video DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22919633.

Mikko Laine, University of Bern

- - Symmetries and phases of massless QCD in the T, Nf space

Owe Philipsen, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt

- - Phase diagram as function of quark masses for Nf = 0,1,2,3 (Columbia plot)

Christian Schmidt, Universität Bielefeld

- - QCD equation of state and fluctuations

Jana Günther, Bergische Universität, Wuppertal

- - Axial symmetry breaking and effective restoration,

Antonio Smecca, INFN Roma Tre

- - Finite density QCD, and the search for the critical endpoint

Szabolcs Borsanyi, Bergische Universität Wuppertal

- - A larger parameter space I: Imaginary baryochemical potential, isospin density, two color QCD

Bastian Brandt, Universität Bielefeld

- - A larger parameter space II: Magnetic fields

Gergely Endrödi, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest

- - Topology from low to high temperature

Massimo D'Elia, Università di Pisa

- - Transport and other quantities from analytical continuation

Guy Moore, TU Darmstadt

- - Heavy quark states and sequential melting

Alexander Rothkopf, Korea University

- - Classical-statistical Real-Time methods

Sören Schlichting, Universität Bielefeld

Special lecture

Thermal Field Theory: from laboratories, to neutron stars and early universe

Claudia Ratti, University of Houston

Library

The Extreme QCD series of PhD Schools

Lectures and topical reviews

Guy Moore, Thermal Field Theory

Frithjof Karsch, Supercomputing the properties of strong interaction matter by Lattice QCD
Gergely Endrödi, Latest developments from lattice QCD under extreme conditions (April 2026)
Jana Günther, Exploring the phase diagram with Lattice QCD, plenary talk at Lattice2026
Antonio Smecca, The fate of the axial symmetry in finite temperature QCD, plenary talk at Lattice2026

Suggestions and contributions welcome!