Dirac mode localization in QCD near the crossover temperature

We study the localization properties of the low-lying Dirac eigenmodes in QCD near the crossover temperature, using stout-smeared staggered fermions and Symanzik-improved gauge action on the lattice. On N t = 8 lattices we find that localized low modes, absent at low temperature, appear at a temperature T loc in the range 150 MeV ≤ T loc ≤ 160 MeV , well within the chiral crossover range as determined from the chiral condensate and from the light-quark susceptibility. Since with our choice of lattice action neither the chiral transition region nor the renormalized mobility edges change significantly above N t = 8 , our conclusion that T loc is in the chiral crossover region is expected to remain valid in the continuum limit.