Introduction to Z_N Symmetry in SU_N Gauge Theories at Finite Temperatures

1993/11/05 by Nathan Weiss, Weiss, Nathan
Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph) #hep-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.hep-ph/9311233

Talk Presented at "Thermal Fields Workshop" Aug. 1993 in Banff, Canada, 7 pages, 2 figures available by anonymous FTP at black_hole.physics.ubc.ca in directory outgoing/banff, UBCTP93-23

arxiv created 1993/11/05 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30

Abstract

There have been several talks at this workshop on the physical interpretation and consequences of the Z_N symmetry which is present in the Euclidean Path Integral formulation of SU_N Gauge Theories at finite temperature. The purpose of this paper is to present an introduction to this subject. After a brief review of Gluodynamics at finite temperature, the nature of the Z_N symmetry in this system is described and its relationship to confinement is discussed. Z_N domain walls and bubbles are then described as is their relationship to the confining--deconfining phase transition. The effect of Fermions is then considered and the presence of metastable extrema of the Effective Potential for the Polyakov--Wilson Line is described. It is then argued that these metastable extrema do not correspond to physically realizable metastable states.

Related

• Z_N-symmetry in gauge theories at finite temperatures
• Thermal Gauge Theory, Effective Action and Z(N) Symmetry
• A Scaling Relation, Z_m-type Deconfinement Phases and Imaginary Chemical Potentials in Finite Temperature Large-N Gauge Theories
• Confinement/deconfinement transition temperature from the Polyakov loop potential and gauge-invariant gluon mass
• Confinement--deconfinement phase transition and gauge-invariant gluonic mass in Yang-Mills theory