In the limit of a large number of colors, Nc, we suggest that gauge theories can exhibit several distinct phases at nonzero temperature and quark density. Two are familiar: a cold, dilute phase of confined hadrons, where the pressure is ∼ 1, and a hot phase of deconfined quarks and gluons, with pressure ∼ N c . When the quark chemical potential μ ∼ 1, the deconfining transition temperature, Td,...
