A precise study of the thermodynamic properties of the SU(3) Yang-Mills theory across the deconfinement transition

We perform a detailed computation of key quantities across the first-order deconfinement phase transition of the SU(3) Yang-Mills theory. Specifically, we calculate the entropy density, s(Tc)/Tc3, on both sides of the transition and determine the latent heat h. The calculations are carried out in the lattice regularization with the Wilson action, employing shifted boundary conditions in the temporal direction. Our simulations are performed at five different values of the lattice spacing in order to extrapolate the results to the continuum limit. The latent heat can be measured also as the discontinuity in the trace anomaly of the energy-momentum tensor: our result using the entropy density is compatible with the one obtained from the trace anomaly, giving a combined estimate h=1.175(10). Additionally, we determine the critical temperature Tc in physical units with permille accuracy, yielding Tct0=0.24915(29). These results allow to connect with precision the confined and the deconfined phases and we present an improved computation of the Equation of State across the deconfinement transition for T between 0 and 3.4Tc.