2014/10/06 by Michael C. Ogilvie · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Abelian group #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Compactification (mathematics) #Gauge theory #Hamiltonian lattice gauge theory #Lattice (music) #Lattice field theory #Lattice gauge theory #Magnetic monopole #Nuclear physics research studies #Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions #Semiclassical physics #Symmetry group #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1142/s0217751x14450031
published in International Journal of Modern Physics A 29(25), 1445003 (World Scientific) · 18 pages, 7 figures. Review article for special issue of IJMPA on Recent Nonperturbative Developments in QCD-like Theories, International Journal of Modern Physics A, Vol. 29 (2014)
openalex publication_date 2014/10/06 · arxiv created 2014/10/07 · arxiv updated 2014/10/08 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
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 physics of finite temperature gauge theories. The topology R 3 × S 1 has been most often studied using a small compactification circumference L such that the running coupling g 2 (L) is small. The gauge action is modified by a double-trace Polyakov loop deformation term, or by the addition of periodic adjoint fermions. The additional terms act to preserve Z(N) symmetry and thus confinement. An area law for Wilson loops is induced by a monopole condensate. In the continuum, the string tension can be computed analytically from topological effects. Lattice models display similar behavior, but the theoretical analysis of topological effects is based on Abelian lattice duality rather than on semiclassical arguments. In both cases, the key step is reducing the low-energy symmetry group from SU(N) to the maximal Abelian subgroup U(1) N-1 while maintaining Z(N) symmetry.