Unexciting non-Abelian electric fields
High Energy Physics - Theory
2022-05-31 v3 High Energy Physics - Lattice
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Abstract
Electric fields in QED are known to discharge due to Schwinger pair production of charged particles. Corresponding electric fields in non-Abelian theory are known to discharge due to the production of gluons. Yet electric flux tubes in QCD ought to be stable to the production of charged gluons as they confine quarks. We resolve this conundrum by finding electric field configurations in pure non-Abelian gauge theory in which the Schwinger process is absent and the electric field is protected against quantum dissipation. We comment on the implications for QCD flux tubes.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2204.01902,
title = {Unexciting non-Abelian electric fields},
author = {Tanmay Vachaspati},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2204.01902},
year = {2022}
}
Comments
9 pages, 1 figure. Clarified presentation, added further references. PRD published version. Fixed a few typos (results unchanged)