Thermal spectrum of pseudo-scalar glueballs and Debye screening mass from holography

Abstract

Abstract The finite temperature spectrum of pseudo-scalar glueballs in a plasma is studied using a holographic model. The $$ 0^{-+}$$ 0-+ glueball is represented by a pseudo-scalar (axion) field living in a five dimensional geometry that comes from a solution of Einstein equations for gravity coupled with a dilaton scalar field. The spectral function obtained from the model shows a clear peak corresponding to the quasi-particle ground state. Analyzing the variation of the position of the peak with temperature, we describe the thermal behavior of the Debye screening mass of the plasma. As a check of consistency, the zero temperature limit of the model is also investigated. The glueball masses obtained are consistent with previous lattice results.