Related papers: Confinement-deconfinement and universal string eff…
We investigate the adjoint SU(2) lattice gauge theory in 3+1 dimensions with the Wilson plaquette action modified by a Z(2) monopole suppression term. For the zero-twist sector we report indications for the existence of a finite temperature…
We propose to use the different kinds of vacua of the gauge theories coupled to matter as a laboratory to test confinement ideas of pure Yang-Mills theories. In particular, the very poor overlap of the Wilson loop with the broken string…
By superposition of regular gauge instantons or merons, ensembles of gauge fields are constructed which describe the confining phase of SU(2) Yang-Mills theory. Various properties of the Wilson loops, the gluon condensate and the…
We study adjoint and fundamental Wilson loops in the center-vortex picture of confinement, for gauge group SU(N) with general N. There are N-1 distinct vortices, whose properties, including collective coordinates and actions, we study. In…
We consider, from several complementary perspectives, the physics of confinement and deconfinement in the 2+1 dimensional Georgi-Glashow model. Polyakov's monopole plasma and 't Hooft's vortex condensation are discussed first. We then…
Sources in higher representations of SU(N) gauge theory at T=0 couple with apparently stable strings with tensions depending on the specific representation rather than on its N-ality. Similarly at the deconfining temperature these sources…
There has been substantial progress in understanding confinement in a class of four-dimensional SU(N) gauge theories using semiclassical methods. These models have one or more compact directions, and much of the analysis is based on the…
Percolation is a concept widely used in many fields of research and refers to the propagation of substances through porous media (e.g., coffee filtering), or the behaviour of complex networks (e.g., spreading of diseases). Percolation…
We consider "double-winding" Wilson loops in SU(2) gauge theory. These are contours which wind once around a loop $C_1$ and once around a loop $C_2$, where the two co-planar loops share one point in common, and where $C_1$ lies entirely in…
We present a unifying, consistent, finite-size-scaling picture for percolation theory bringing it into the framework of a general, renormalization-group-based, scaling scheme for systems above their upper critical dimensions $d_c$.…
A derivation is given from first principles of the fact that the SU(2) gauge theory is in a confining phase for all values of the coupling $0 < g < \infty$ defined at lattice spacing (UV regulator) $a$, and space-time dimension $d \leq 4$.…
We review certain properties of confinement with added focus on the ones we study with holography. Then we discuss observables whose unique behavior can indicate the presence of confinement. Using mainly the Wilson loop in the gauge/gravity…
Phases of SU(N) gauge theories in which the global Z(N) symmetry breaks spontaneously to a subgroup Z(L) can be realized by adding appropriate Wilson line terms to the gauge action. These phases are partially confining, in the sense that…
Starting with the representation of the Wilson average in the Euclidean 4D compact QED as a partition function of the Universal Confining String Theory, we derive for it the corresponding loop equation, alternative to the familiar one. In…
Percolation theory is usually applied to lattices with a uniform probability p that a site is occupied or that a bond is closed. The more general case, where p is a function of the position x, has received less attention. Previous studies…
A vast class of disordered conducting-insulating compounds close to the percolation threshold is characterized by nonuniversal values of transport critical exponent t, in disagreement with the standard theory of percolation which predicts t…
Continuous phase transitions in spin systems can be formulated as percolation of suitably defined clusters. We review this equivalence and then discuss how in a similar way, the color deconfinement transition in SU(2) gauge theory can be…
The de-confinement phase transition in SU(2) Yang-Mills theory is revisited in the vortex picture. Defining the world sheets of the confining vortices by maximal center projection, the percolation properties of the vortex lines in the…
Using the twisted partition function on R^3 x S^1, we argue that the deconfinement phase transition in pure Yang-Mills theory for all simple gauge groups is continuously connected to a quantum phase transition that can be studied in a…
In a gauge theory, the gauge invariant Hilbert space is unchanged by the coupling to arbitrary local operators. In the presence of Wilson loops, though, the physical Hilbert space must be enlarged by adding test electric charges along the…