The QCD phase transition with 2, 3, and 4 flavors of dynamical quarks

Recent results from the 256-node Columbia machine are presented on 163xNt lattices for Nt = 4 and 6 using Kogut-Susskind fermions with quark masses ranging between 0.01 and 1.0 lattice units. It is argued that for four flavors the region for small quark mass where the transition is first order shrinks more rapidly than suggested by naive scaling gas Nt increases from 4 to 6. For Nt = 4 and three degenerate flavors of quarks the transition remains first order at m = 0.025 however it is weaker than for four flavors. For 2 flavors no first order signal is seen even when the quark mass decreased to 0.01. Finally, the location and nature of the transition as the strange quark mass is varied (interpolating between the case of 2 and 3 degenerate flavors) is discussed. (orig.)