We study the use of the complex-Langevin equation (CLE) to simulate lattice QCD at a finite chemical potential ( μ ) for a quark-number, which has a complex fermion determinant that prevents the use of standard simulation methods based on importance sampling. Recent enhancements to the CLE specific to lattice QCD inhibit runaway solutions which had foiled earlier attempts to use it for such simulations. However, it is not guaranteed to produce correct results. Our goal is to determine under what conditions the CLE yields correct values for the observables of interest. Zero temperature simulations indicate that for moderate couplings, good agreement with expected results is obtained for small μ and for μ large enough to reach saturation, and that this agreement improves as we go to weaker coupling. For intermediate μ values these simulations do not produce the correct physics. We compare our results with those of the phase-quenched approximation. Since there are indications that correct results might be obtained if the CLE trajectories remain close to the S U ( 3 ) manifold, we study how the distance from this manifold depends on the quark mass and on the coupling. We find that this distance decreases with decreasing quark mass and as the coupling decreases, i.e., as the simulations approach the continuum limit.
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