Negative moment of inertia and rotational instability of gluon plasma

Abstract

Using first-principle numerical simulations of the lattice SU(3) gauge theory, we calculate the isothermal moment of inertia of the rigidly rotating gluon plasma. We find that the moment of inertia unexpectedly takes a negative value below the “supervortical temperature” Ts=1.50(10)Tc, vanishes at T=Ts, and becomes a positive quantity at higher temperatures. The negative moment of inertia indicates a thermodynamic instability of rigid rotation. We derive the condition of thermodynamic stability of the vortical plasma and show how it relates to the scale anomaly and the magnetic gluon condensate. The rotational instability of gluon plasma shares a striking similarity with the rotational instabilities of spinning Kerr and Myers-Perry black holes.

Keywords

• Relativistic rotation
• Quark-gluon plasma
• Rotational instability
• Lattice QCD
• Heavy-ion collisions
• Phase transition