Related papers: Large N phase transitions under scaling and their …

We define smoothed Wilson loop operators on a four dimensional lattice and check numerically that they have a finite and nontrivial continuum limit. The continuum operators maintain their character as unitary matrices and undergo a phase…

The eigenvalue distribution of a Wilson loop operator of fixed shape undergoes a transition under scaling at infinite N. We derive a large N scaling function in a double scaling limit of the average characteristic polynomial associated with…

Wilson loops in large N gauge theory exhibit a weak to strong coupling transition as the loop is dilated. A multiplicative matrix model captures the universal behavior associated with this transition. A universal scaling function is…

In pure SU(N) gauge theory in four dimensions, we determine the string tension at large N from smeared rectangular Wilson loops on the lattice. We learn how well loops of sizes barely on the strong-coupling side of the large-N transition in…

Numerical studies support the conjecture that in continuum planar QCD the eigenvalue density of a Wilson loop operator undergoes a transition as the loop is dilated while keeping the loop shape fixed. A second part of the conjecture is that…

Eigenvalues of a Wilson loop operator are gauge invariant and their distribution undergoes a transition at infinite N as the size of the loop is changed. We study this transition using the average characteristic polynomial associated with…

In Euclidean four-dimensional SU(N) pure gauge theory, eigenvalue distributions of Wilson loop parallel transport matrices around closed spacetime curves show non-analytic behavior (a 'large-N phase transition') at a critical size of the…

The main focus of this talk is the physics of large N QCD on a continuum torus. A cascade of phase transitions associated with the breaking of U(1) symmetries will be discussed. The continuum Wilson loop as a function of its area will be…

It is known that the expectation value of Wilson loops in the Gross-Witten-Wadia (GWW) unitary matrix model can be computed exactly at finite $N$ for arbitrary representations. We study the perturbative and non-perturbative corrections of…

We exhibit the gauge-group independence (``universality'') of all normalized non-intersecting Wilson loop expectation values in the large N limit of two-dimensional Yang-Mills theory. This universality is most easily understood via the…

It is shown that a very simple multiplicative random complex matrix model generalizes the large-N phase structure found in the unitary case: A perturbative regime is joined to a non-perturbative regime at a point where the smoothness of…

Eigenvalue distributions of properly regularized Wilson loop operators are used to study the transition from ultra-violet (UV) behavior to infra-red (IR) behavior in gauge theories coupled to matter that potentially have an IR fixed point…

I propose a class of D\geq{2} lattice SU(N) gauge theories dual to certain vector models endowed with the local [U(N)]^{D} conjugation-invariance and Z_{N} gauge symmetry. In the latter models, both the partitition function and Wilson loop…

This work is about pure Yang-Mills theory in four Euclidean dimensions with gauge group SU(N). We study rectangular smeared Wilson loops on the lattice at large N and relatively close to the large-N transition point in their eigenvalue…

We consider gauge theories of non-Abelian $finite$ groups, and discuss the 1+1 dimensional lattice gauge theory of the permutation group $S_N$ as an illustrative example. The partition function at finite $N$ can be written explicitly in a…

String representations of the Wilson loop are constructed in the SU(N)-version of compact QED in three and four dimensions. This is done exactly in the case of the fundamental Wilson loop and in the large-N limit in the case of the adjoint…

We show that the large N partition functions and Wilson loop observables of two-dimensional Yang-Mills theories admit a universal functional form irrespective of the gauge group. We demonstrate that U(N) QCD_2 undergoes a large N,…

Large-N phase transitions occurring in massive N=2 theories can be probed by Wilson loops in large antisymmetric representations. The logarithm of the Wilson loop is effectively described by the free energy of a Fermi distribution and…

Using methods of numerical Lattice Gauge Theory we show that in the limit of a large number of colors, properly regularized Wilson loops have an eigenvalue distribution which changes non-analytically as the overall size of the loop is…

The eigenvalue density of a Wilson loop matrix W associated with a simple loop in two-dimensional Euclidean SU(N) Yang-Mills theory undergoes a phase transition at a critical size in the infinite-N limit. The averages of 1/det(z-W) and…