PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

Using combined strong coupling and hopping parameter expansions, we derive aneffective three-dimensional theory from thermal lattice QCD with heavy Wilsonquarks. The theory depends on traced Polyakov loops only and correctly reflectsthe centre symmetry of the pure gauge sector as well as its breaking by finitemass quarks. It is valid up to certain orders in the lattice gauge coupling andhopping parameter, which can be systematically improved. To its current orderit is controlled for lattices up to N_\tau\sim 6 at finite temperature. Fornonzero quark chemical potentials, the effective theory has a fermionic signproblem which is mild enough to carry out simulations up to large chemicalpotentials. Moreover, by going to a flux representation of the partitionfunction, the sign problem can be solved. As an application, we determine thedeconfinement transition and its critical end point as a function of quark massand all chemical potentials.