Quark matter and meson properties in a Nonlocal SU(3) chiral quark model at finite temperature

Abstract

We study the finite temperature behavior of light scalar and pseudoscalar meson properties in the context of a three-flavor nonlocal chiral quark model. The model includes mixing with active strangeness degrees of freedom, and takes care of the effect of gauge interactions by coupling the quarks with a background color field. We analyze the chiral restoration and deconfinement transitions, as well as the temperature dependence of meson masses, mixing angles, and decay constants.