Related papers: String Effects in the Wilson Loop: a high precisio…
The quantum fluctuations of the flux tube joining two static sources in the confining phase of a lattice gauge theory are described by an effective string theory. The predictions of the latter for ratios of Wilson loops of equal perimeter…
We review the current knowledge about the theoretical foundations of the effective string theory for confining flux tubes and the comparison of the predictions to pure gauge lattice data. A concise presentation of the effective string…
We review some universal features of the colour flux tube of gauge theories in the confining phase predicted by the infrared conformal limit of the underlying string theory. In particular we discuss shape effects in Wilson loops and…
We look at energies of the low lying states of the hadronic string in three dimensional SU(2) lattice gauge theory by forming correlation matrices among different sources. We are able to go to previously inaccessible time separations. This…
In $\mathrm{U(1)}$ lattice gauge theory in three spacetime dimensions, confinement can be analytically shown to persist at all values of the coupling. Furthermore, the explicit predictions for the dependence of string tension $\sigma$ and…
The effective string describing the large distance behaviour of the quark sources of gauge field theories in the confining phase in D=3 or D=4 space-time dimensions can be formulated, in the infrared limit, as a suitable 2D conformal field…
The density profile of the QCD flux tube is investigated within the framework of the L\"uscher-Weisz (LW) string action with two boundary terms. The transverse action profile and potential between static quarks are considered using Wilson's…
We study the effective bosonic string that describes confining flux tubes in three-dimensional SU(N) Yang--Mills theories. Although the low-energy properties are universal and well described by the Nambu--Got\=o action, the subtle…
Wilson loops provide the central gauge-invariant probe of confinement in lattice gauge theory. This survey reviews the statistical-mechanical formulation of lattice gauge ensembles, the strong-coupling and duality mechanisms behind area…
The asymptotic behavior of Wilson loops in the large-size limit ($L\rightarrow\infty$) in confining gauge theories with area law is controlled by effective string theory (EST). The $L^{-2}$ term of the large-size expansion for the logarithm…
I begin these three lectures by describing some of the useful things that we have learned about large-N gauge theories using lattice simulations. For example that the theory is confining in that limit, that for many quantities SU(3) is…
Simulations in lattice gauge theory suggest that the formation of a flux tube between quark and antiquark leads to quark confinement. It is conjectured that the infrared behaviour of the flux tube is governed by an effective string theory…
The U(1) lattice gauge theory in three dimensions is a perfect laboratory to study the properties of the confining string. On the one hand, thanks to the mapping to a Coulomb gas of monopoles, the confining properties of the model can be…
All-order strong coupling simulations have been used to derive precise energies of string states in the confined phase of three dimensional Z(2) lattice gauge theory. The behavior of the ground state energy is here compared with predictions…
The behaviour of the space-like string tension in the high temperature phase is studied. Data obtained in the $Z_2$ gauge model in (2+1) dimensions are compared with predictions of a simple model of a fluctuating flux tube with finite…
Gauge systems in the confining phase induce constraints at the boundaries of the effective string, which rule out the ordinary bosonic string even with short distance modifications. Allowing topological excitations, corresponding to winding…
We present a study of the effective string that describes the infrared dynamics of SU(2) Yang-Mills theory in three dimensions. By combining high-precision lattice simulation results for Polyakov-loop correlators at finite temperatures…
In presence of a static pair of sources, the spectrum of low-lying states of any confining gauge theory in D space-time dimensions is described, at large source separations, by an effective string theory. Recently two important advances…
We exhibit the appropriate variables allowing the plus-minus (Z(2)) `reduction' of the Wilson loop operator which provides a direct measure of the thin, thick and `mixed' Z(2) topological, gauge-invariant vortices in SU(2) LGT. Simulations…
We calculate in the SU(6) gauge theory the mass of the lightest flux loop that winds around a spatial torus, as a function of the torus size, taking care to achieve control of the main systematic errors. For comparison we perform a similar…