  We study the nature of the finite-temperature chiral transition in QCD with
N_f light quarks in the adjoint representation (aQCD). Renormalization-group
arguments show that the transition can be continuous if a stable fixed point
exists in the renormalization-group flow of the corresponding three-dimensional
Phi^4 theory with a complex 2N_f x 2N_f symmetric matrix field and
symmetry-breaking pattern SU(2N_f)->SO(2N_f). This issue is investigated by
exploiting two three-dimensional perturbative approaches, the massless
minimal-subtraction scheme without epsilon expansion and a massive scheme in
which correlation functions are renormalized at zero momentum. We compute the
renormalization-group functions in the two schemes to five and six loops
respectively, and determine their large-order behavior.
  The analyses of the series show the presence of a stable three-dimensional
fixed point characterized by the symmetry-breaking pattern SU(4)->SO(4). This
fixed point does not appear in an epsilon-expansion analysis and therefore does
not exist close to four dimensions. The finite-temperature chiral transition in
two-flavor aQCD can therefore be continuous; in this case its critical behavior
is determined by this new SU(4)/SO(4) universality class. One-flavor aQCD may
show a more complex phase diagram with two phase transitions. One of them, if
continuous, should belong to the O(3) vector universality class.
