From deconfinement to nuclear matter: mean-field approaches for effective Polyakov loop theories of lattice QCD

A bstract Numerical studies of the QCD phase diagram at finite baryon chemical potential μ B on the lattice are impeded by a sign problem. Effective Polyakov loop theories derived from lattice QCD via combined strong-coupling and hopping expansions are valid for heavy quarks only, but tractable with a significantly less severe sign problem. In this work, we apply three mean-field approximations to these effective theories, each incorporating local fluctuations to different degrees. We compare th