Creutz Ratios From Color-Truncated Lattice Configurations

We investigate whether information about Creutz ratios is encoded, separately, in each gluon color component of numerically generated lattice configurations. Working in SU(2) lattice gauge theory in Landau gauge, we set two of the three gluon color components to zero, and compensate for the loss of two-thirds of the fluctuation by simply rescaling the remaining component by a factor of $\sqrt{3}$. Creutz ratios are then computed with this "abelianized" configuration. We find that the Creutz ratios of loops constructed from abelianized links converge to the usual Creutz ratios in the scaling regime.