Transition from weak to strong coupling in thermal gauge theories: Lessons from N = 4 SYM theory

We investigate the transition between weak and strong coupling in thermal N ¼ 4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory as a function of ’t Hooft coupling λ for several quantities of phenomenological interest for which next-to-leading order calculations are available in both regimes. We use Pad´e approximants to interpolate between the weak and strong coupling expansions and determine the location and width of the transition between the asymptotic regimes.

Duke Scholars

Author Berndt Mueller Physics