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Matrix Model Thermodynamics

Gordon W. Semenoff
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Abstract

Some recent work on the thermodynamic behavior of the matrix model of M-theory on a pp-wave background is reviewed. We examine a weak coupling limit where computations can be done explicitly. In the large N limit, we find a phase transition between two distinct phases which resembles a ``confinement-deconfinement'' transition in gauge theory and which we speculate must be related to a geometric transition in M-theory. We review arguments that the phase transition is also related to the Hagedorn transition of little string theory in a certain limit of the 5-brane geometry.

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Gordon W. Semenoff. 2004-05-12. Matrix Model Thermodynamics. https://doi.org/10.1142/9789812702340_0071

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