Finite-temperature system of strongly interacting baryons

A fully relativistic finite-temperature many-body theory is constructed and used to examine the bulk properties of a system of strongly interacting baryons. The strong interactions are described by a two-parameter phenomenological-model fit to a simple description of nuclear matter at $T = 0$. The zero-temperature equation of state for such a system, which has already been discussed in the literature, was developed to give a realistic description of nuclear matter. The model presented here is the exact finite-temperature extension of that model. The effect of the inclusion of baryon pairs for $T\gtrsim \frac{2m{c}^2}{k}$ is discussed in detail. The phase transition identified with nuclear matter vanishes for system temperatures in excess of $T_c = 1.034\times {10}^{11}$. All values of $\epsilon (P,T)$ correspond to systems that are causal in the sense that the locally determined speed of sound never exceeds the speed of light.