FLIP-FLOP AND DECONFINEMENT IN A STRING GAS

We study the thermodynamics of a toy model consisting of massless poin tlike charges connected pairwise by strings of a constant string tensi on. At low density, the constituents of this system are massive bound states of finite size; at high density, a flip-flop mechanism allows t he pointlike charges to move ''freely'' over macroscopic distances. We determine the critical density at which such a string gas undergoes a transition between the two states and investigate the nature of this transition.