We discuss the entropy carried by a quark-antiquark pair, in particular across the deconfinement transition. We therefore rely on a self-consistent solution to Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton gravity, capable of mimicking essential features of QCD. In particular we introduce a novel model that still captures well the QCD confinement and deconfinement phases, while allowing the introduction of a temperature in a phase which resembles the confined phase, this thanks to it being dual to a small black hole. We pay due attention to some subtleties of such a model. We confirm the lattice picture of a strong build-up of thermal entropy towards the critical temperature $T_c$, both coming from below or above $T_c$. We also include a chemical potential, confirming this entropic picture and we consider its effect on the speed of sound. Moreover, the temperature dependent confinement phase from the holography side allows us to find a string tension that does not vanish at $T_c$, a finding also supported by lattice QCD.

• Received 11 October 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.96.126010