2018/10/31 by Felix Spengler, Markus Quandt, Hugo Reinhardt
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Branching (polymer chemistry) #Condensed matter physics #Deconfinement #Gauge theory #Geometry #High-Energy Particle Collisions Research #Lattice (music) #Lattice gauge theory #Materials science #Mathematical physics #Mathematics #Mechanics #Parameter space #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #Phase transition #Physics #Quantum Chromodynamics and Particle Interactions #Scaling #Statistical physics #Vortex #hep-lat #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.98.094508
published as Phys. Rev. D 98, 094508 (2018) · 11 pages, revtex4-1, expanded result section and discussion, improved figure layout, added references for the introduction, added acknowledgment and funding information
openalex publication_date 2018/11/16 · arxiv created 2018/11/22 · arxiv updated 2018/11/26 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We analyze the branching of center vortices in SU(3) Yang-Mills theory in maximal center gauge. When properly normalized, we can define a branching probability that turns out to be independent of the lattice spacing (in the limited scaling window studied here). The branching probability shows a rapid change at the deconfinement phase transition, which is much more pronounced in space slices of the lattice as compared to time slices. Though not a strict order parameter (in the sense that it vanishes in one phase) the branching probability is thus found to be a reliable indicator for both the location of the critical temperature and the geometric rearrangement of vortex matter across the deconfinement phase transition.