Visualizations of coherent center domains in local Polyakov loops

• We produce visualizations of center clusters in Polyakov loops.
• The evolution of center clusters with HMC simulation time is examined.
• Visualizations provide novel insights into the percolation of center clusters.
• The magnitude and phase of the Polyakov loop are studied.
• A correlation between the magnitude and center phase proximity is evident.

Quantum Chromodynamics exhibits a hadronic confined phase at low to moderate temperatures and, at a critical temperature TCTC, undergoes a transition to a deconfined phase known as the quark–gluon plasma. The nature of this deconfinement phase transition is probed through visualizations of the Polyakov loop, a gauge independent order parameter. We produce visualizations that provide novel insights into the structure and evolution of center clusters. Using the HMC algorithm the percolation during the deconfinement transition is observed. Using 3D rendering of the phase and magnitude of the Polyakov loop, the fractal structure and correlations are examined. The evolution of the center clusters as the gauge fields thermalize from below the critical temperature to above it are also exposed. We observe deconfinement proceeding through a competition for the dominance of a particular center phase. We use stout-link smearing to remove small-scale noise in order to observe the large-scale evolution of the center clusters. A correlation between the magnitude of the Polyakov loop and the proximity of its phase to one of the center phases of SU(3) is evident in the visualizations.