Thermodynamics of SU(3) gauge theory on anisotropic lattices -: art. no. 074507

Finite temperature SU(3) gauge theory is studied on anisotropic lattices using the standard plaquette gauge action. The equation of state is calculated on 16(3) x 8, 20(3) x 10, and 24(3) x 12 lattices with the anisotropy xi =a(s)/a(t)=2, where a(s) and a(t) are the spatial and temporal lattice spacings. Unlike the case of the isotropic lattice on which N-t=4 data deviate significantly from the leading scaling behavior, the pressure and energy density on an anisotropic lattice are found to satisfy well the leading 1/N-t(2) scaling from our coarsest lattice N-t/xi = 4. With three data points at N-t/xi = 4, 5 and 6, we perform a well controlled continuum extrapolation of the equation of state. Our results in the continuum limit agree with a previous result from isotropic lattices using the same action, but have smaller and more reliable errors.