First-order phase transition in lattice QCD at finite temperature with light fermions: An analytical study

We analyze QCD on a lattice with light Kogut-Susskind fermions in the strong-coupling region at finite temperature. We work in the Hamiltonian framework using the formalism of Matsubara. The results show the presence of a deconfining first-order phase transition for intermediate values of the coupling constant. We argue that the dynamical mass of the fermions is the parameter responsible for the existence of this transition. The formalism includes previous analytical results on this subject as special cases.