Recently, it has been conjectured that deconfining phase transition in SU(N_c) pure Yang-Mills theories is continuously connected to a quantum phase transition in softly broken N=1 super Yang-Mills on R^{1,2}*S^1. We exploit this conjecture to study the strength of the transition and deconfining temperature as a function of the vacuum angle theta in pure Yang-Mills. We find that the transition temperature is a decreasing function of theta in [0, π), in an excellent agreement with recent lattice simulations. We also predict that the transition becomes stronger for the same range of theta, and comment on the theta dependence in the large N_c limit. More lattice studies are required to test our predictions.
We summarize recent nonperturbative results obtained for the thermodynamics of an SU(2) and an SU(3) Yang-Mills theory being in its deconfining (electric) phase. Emphasis is put on an explanation of the concepts involved. The presentation of technical details is avoided.
We investigate the dependence of the CP^3 model and of the SU(2) Yang-Mills theory on the vacuum angle theta. The CP^3 model exhibits a first order deconfining phase transition in theta. The critical value of theta runs from pi in the strong coupling limit towards zero as beta is taken to infinity. Qualitatively the same behavior is found in the SU(2) Yang-Mills theory in four dimensions. We discuss the renormalization group trajectories. Only the line with theta = 0 allows the cut-off to go to infinity, while the lines with theta > 0 end on the line of first order phase transitions. Thus thet…
Phase and modulus of an energy- and pressure-free, composite and adjoint field in an SU(2) Yang-Mills theory are computed. This field is generated by trivial holonomy calorons of topological charge one. It possesses nontrivial $S_1$-winding on the group manifold. The two-loop contribution to the thermodynamical pressure of an SU(2) Yang-Mills theory in the electric (deconfining) phase is computed in the real time formalism of finite temperature field theory. The result supports the picture of only very weakly interacting quasiparticles.
We compute the two-point correlation of the energy density for the massless mode in deconfining SU(2) Yang-Mills thermodynamics and point towards a possible application for the physics of cold, dilute, and stable clouds of atomic hydrogen within the Milky Way.
We determine the topological susceptibility $χ$ at T=0 in pure SU(3) gauge theory and its behaviour at finite $T$ across the deconfining transition. We use an improved topological charge density operator. $χ$ drops sharply by one order of magnitude at the deconfining temperature $T_c$.
We consider (2+1)-dimensional Yang-Mills theory on $S^1 \times S^1 \times {\bf R}$ in the framework of a Hamiltonian approach developed by Karabali, Kim and Nair. The deconfining limit in the theory can be discussed in terms of one of the $S^1$ radii of the torus ($S^1 \times S^1$), while the other radius goes to infinity. We find that the limit agrees with the previously known result for a dynamical propagator mass of a gluon. We also make comparisons with numerical data.
In the holographic model of QCD, theta dependence sharply changes at the point of confinement deconfinement phase transition. In large N QCD such a change in theta behavior can be related to the breakdown of the instanton expansion at some critical temperature T_c. Associating this temperature with confinement-deconfinement phase transition leads to the description of the latter in terms of dissociation of instantons into the fractionally charged instanton quarks. To elucidate this picture, we introduce the nonvanishing chiral condensate in the deconfining phase and assume a specific lagrangia…
We present an overview on nonperturbative thermodynamics in the deconfining phase of an SU(2) Yang-Mills theory. In a unique effective theory the maximal resolution of trivial-topology fluctuations is constrained by coarse-grained, interacting calorons and anticalorons. Loop expansions of thermodynamical quantities are discussed. Postulating that SU(2)$_{\tiny{CMB}}\stackrel{\tiny{today}}=U(1)_Y$, a modification of thermalized, low-momentum photon propagation is predicted for temperatures a few times that of the cosmic microwave background. We discuss phenomenological implications: magnetic-fi…
The quantum of action $\hbar$, multiplying in certain powers perturbative vertices in 4D gauge theory, is related to the action of just-not-resolved selfdual and thermal gauge field configurations, calorons and anticalorons, of charge modulus unity. Appealing to the derivation of the effective theory for the deconfining phase of SU(2) Yang-Mills thermodynamics, we conclude that these vertex inducers convey a rapidly decreasing interaction strength between {\sl fundamental} plane waves when the momentum transfer is increased away from the scale of maximal, {\sl effective} resolution. This adds …
The thesis is considering aspects of SU(2) Yang-Mills thermodynamics in its deconfining high-temperature phase. We calculate the two-point correlation function of the energy density of the photon in a thermalized gas, at first in the conventional U(1) gauge theory, followed by a calculation, where the photon is identified with the massless gauge mode in deconfining SU(2) Yang-Mills thermodynamics. Apart from the fact, that this calculation is interesting from a technical point of view, we can consider several aspects of phenomenological relevance. Since we interpret the two-point correlator of…
The uniquess of the effective actions describing 4D SU(2) and SU(3) continuum, infinite-volume Yang-Mills thermodynamics in their deconfining and preconfining phases is made explicit. Subsequently, the spatial string tension is computed in the approach proposed by Korthals-Altes. This SU(2) calculation is based on a particular, effective two-loop correction to the pressure needed for the extraction of the hypothetic number density of isolated and screened magnetic monopoles or antimonopoles in the deconfining phase. By exponentiating the exchange of the tree-level massless but one-loop dressed…
At one-loop accuracy we compute, characterize, and discuss the dispersion laws for the three low-momentum branches of propagating longitudinal, electric U(1) fields in the effective theory for the deconfining phase of pure SU(2) Yang-Mills thermodynamics. With an electric-magnetically dual interpretation of SU(2)$_{\tiny CMB}$ we argue that upon a breaking of plasma isotropy and homogeneity, introduced e.g. by a temperature gradient, the longitudinal modes could conspire to provide magnetic seed fields for magneto-hydrodynamical dynamos inside structures of galaxy, galaxy-cluster, and cosmolog…
We review how vertex constraints inherited from the thermal ground state strongly reduce the integration support of loop four-momenta associated with massive quasi-particles in bubble diagrams constituting corrections to the free thermal quasi-particle pressure. In spite of the observed increasingly suppressing effect when increasing 2-particle-irreducible (2PI) loop order, a quantitative analysis enables us to disprove the conjecture voiced in hep-th/0609033 that the loop expansion would terminate at a finite order. This reveals the necessity to investigate exact expressions of (at least some…
We present a toy model study of the high temperature deconfining transition in Yang-Mills theory as a breakdown of the confinement condition proposed by Kugo and Ojima. Our toy model is a kind of topological field theory obtained from the Yang-Mills theory by taking the limit of vanishing gauge coupling constant $g_{\rm YM}\to 0$, and therefore the gauge field $A_μ$ is constrained to the pure-gauge configuration $A_μ=g^{\dagger}\partial_μg$. At zero temperature this model has been known to satisfy the confinement condition of Kugo and Ojima which requires the absence of the massless Nambu-Gold…
We re-address the self-intersection region in a figure-eight shaped center-vortex loop containing a frequently perturbed {\sl BPS monopole} subject to a core-oscillation frequency $ω_0$, rectifying a numerical error in estimating the system's radius $r_0$ in comparison to the spatial coarse-graining scale of infinite-volume thermodynamics. Implications are discussed. We also compute the lowest frequency $Ω_0$ of a spherically symmetric plasma oscillation within a {\sl neutral} and spatially homogeneous ball-like region of deconfining phase in dependence of its radius $R_0$. For $r_0=R_0$ we co…
We determine the theta dependence of the deconfinement temperature of SU(3) pure gauge theory, finding that it decreases in presence of a topological theta term. We do that by performing lattice simulations at imaginary theta, then exploiting analytic continuation. We also give an estimate of such dependence in the limit of a large number of colors N, and compare it with our numerical results.
Effects of the theta parameter are studied in Witten's model of holographic 4d Yang-Mills, where theta is the coefficient of the CP-breaking topological term. First, the gravity background, including the full backreaction of the RR form dual to the theta parameter, is revisited. Then, a number of observables are computed holographically: the ground-state energy density, the string tension, the 't Hooft loop, the light scalar glueball mass, the baryon mass scale, the critical temperature for deconfinement - and thus the whole (T, theta) phase diagram - and the entanglement entropy. A simple rul…
An analytical and nonperturbative approach to SU(2) and SU(3) Yang-Mills thermodynamics is developed and applied. Each theory comes in three phases: A deconfining, a preconfining, and a confining one. We show how macroscopic and inert scalar fields form in each phase and how they determine the ground-state physics and the properties of the excitations. While the excitations in the deconfining and preconfining phase are massless or massive gauge modes the excitations in the confining phase are massless or massive spin-1/2 fermions. The nature of the two phase transitions is investigated for eac…
We study the phase diagram of non-Abelian pure gauge theories in the presence of a topological theta term. The dependence of the deconfinement temperature on theta is determined on the lattice both by analytic continuation and by reweighting, obtaining consistent results. The general structure of the diagram is discussed on the basis of large-N considerations and of the possible analogies and dualities existing with the phase diagram of QCD in presence of an imaginary baryon chemical potential.
For a deconfining thermal SU(2) Yang-Mills plasma we discuss the role of (anti)calorons in introducing non-thermal behavior effectively described in terms of Planck's quantum of action $\hbar$. This non-thermality cancels exactly between the ground-state estimate and its free quasiparticle excitations. Kinematic constraints in 4-vertex scattering and the counting of radial loop variables versus the number of independent constraints on them are re-visited. Next, we consider thermal 2$\rightarrow$ 2 one-loop scattering of the modes remaining massless upon the (anti)caloron induced adjoint Higgs …
In the effective theory for the deconfining phase of SU(2) Yang-Mills thermodynamics we compute estimates for the moduli of the irreducible three-loop diagrams contributing to the pressure. Our numerical results are in agreement with general expectations.
The theta-dependent gauge theories can be studied by using holographic duality through string theory on certain spacetimes. Via this correspondence we consider a stack of $N_{0}$ dynamical D0-branes as D-instantons in the background sourced by $N_{c}$ coincident non-extreme black D4-branes. According to the gauge-gravity duality this D0-D4 brane system corresponds to Yang-Mills theory with a theta angle at finite temperature. We solve the IIA supergravity action by taking account into a sufficiently small backreaction of the D-instantons and obtain an analytical solution for our D0-D4-brane co…
In this talk, we review some recent results of the center vortex model for the infrared sector of SU(3) Yang-Mills theory. Particular emphasis is put on the order of the finite-temperature deconfining phase transition and the geometrical structure of vortex branchings. We also present preliminary data for the 't Hooft loop operator and the dual string tension near the phase transition.
Explicit computations of the partition function and correlation functions of Wilson and Polyakov loop operators in theta-sectors of two dimensional Yang-Mills theory on the line cylinder and torus are presented. Several observations about the correspondence of two dimensional Yang-Mills theory with unitary matrix quantum mechanics are presented. The incorporation of the theta-angle which characterizes the states of two dimensional adjoint QCD is discussed.
In this short note we suggest that the singular behavior of large gauge transformations preserving the vacuum at null infinity in Yang-Mills theory implies monopoles into the bulk, as well as that the inclusion of a theta term induces a decoupling between holomorphic and anti-holomorphic currents associated to those large gauge transformations
The theta dependence of the vacuum energy in large N Yang-Mills theory has been studied some time ago by Witten using a duality of large N gauge theories with string theory compactified on a certain space-time. We show that within the field theory context vacuum fluctuations of the topological charge give rise to the vacuum energy consistent with the string theory computation. Furthermore, we calculate 1/N suppressed corrections to the string theory result. The reconciliation of the string and field theory approaches is based on the fact that the gauge theory instantons carry zerobrane charge …
We generalize the half-BPS Janus configuration of four-dimensional N=4 super Yang-Mills theory to allow the theta-angle, as well as the gauge coupling, to vary with position. We show that the existence of this generalization is closely related to the existence of novel three-dimensional Chern-Simons theories with N=4 supersymmetry. Another closely related problem, which we also elucidate, is the D3-NS5 system in the presence of a four-dimensional theta-angle.
We study two-dimensional U($N$) and SU($N$) gauge theories with a topological term on arbitrary surfaces. Starting from a lattice formulation we derive the continuum limit of the action which turns out to be a generalisation of the heat kernel in the presence of a topological term. In the continuum limit we can reconstruct the topological information encoded in the theta term. In the topologically trivial cases the theta term gives only a trivial shift to the ground state energy but in the topologically nontrivial ones it remains to be coupled to the dynamics in the continuum. In particular fo…
We investigate the connection between Color Confinement and thermal Abelian monopoles populating the deconfined phase of SU(2) Yang-Mills theory, by studying how the statistical properties of the monopole ensemble change as the confinement/deconfinement temperature is approached from above. In particular we study the distribution of monopole currents with multiple wrappings in the Euclidean time direction, corresponding to two or more particle permutations, and show that multiple wrappings increase as the deconfinement temperature is approached from above, in a way compatible with a condensati…
We argue that a selfconsistent spatial coarse-graining, which involves interacting (anti)calorons of unit topological charge modulus, implies that real-time loop expansions of thermodynamical quantities in the deconfining phase of SU(2) and SU(3) Yang-Mills thermodynamics are, modulo 1PI resummations, determined by a finite number of connected bubble diagrams.
The unconstrained classical system equivalent to spatially homogeneous SU(2) Yang-Mills theory with theta angle is obtained and canonically quantized. The Schrödinger eigenvalue problem is solved approximately for the low lying states using variational calculation. The properties of the groundstate are discussed, in particular its electric and magnetic properties, and the value of the "gluon condensate" is calculated. Furthermore it is shown that the energy spectrum of SU(2) Yang-Mills quantum mechanics is independent of the theta angle. Explicit evaluation of the Witten formula for the topolo…
We show that all of the relevant features of a phase transition can be determined using a non order parameter field which is a physical state of the theory. This fact allows us to understand the deconfining transition of the pure Yang-Mills theory via the physical excitations rather than using the Polyakov loop.
We compute the one-loop 1PI contributions to all the propagators of the noncommutative N=1, 2, 4 super Yang-Mills (SYM) U(1) theories defined by the means of the theta-exact Seiberg-Witten (SW) map in the Wess-Zumino gauge. Then we extract the UV divergent contributions and the noncommutative IR divergences. We show that all the quadratic noncommutative IR divergences add up to zero in each propagator.
For a pure SU(2) Yang-Mills theory in 4D we revisit the spatial (3D), ball-like region of radius $r_0$, in its bulk subject to the pressureless, deconfining phase at $T_0=1.32\,T_c$ where $T_c$ denotes the critical temperature for the onset of the deconfining-preconfining phase transition. Such a region possesses of a finite energy density and represents the self-intersection of a figure-eight shaped center-vortex loop if a BPS monopole of core radius $\sim \frac{r_0}{52.4}$, isolated from its antimonopole by repulsion externally invoked through a transient shift of (anti)caloron holonomy (pai…
Scalar fields play a crucial role in the Standard model. On the other hand, in the weak-coupling regime there is an unsolved problem of the quadratic divergence of scalar masses. Thus, it is natural to turn to composite, or effective scalar fields in the strong-coupling regime. Lattice simulations provide information on the "actually existing" scalar fields in Yang-Mills theories. On the continuum-theory side, dual models predict existence of various low-dimension vacuum defects, including probably scalar particles. We are looking for correspondence between the two frameworks, of lattice pheno…
The center vortex model for the infrared sector of Yang-Mills theory, previously studied for the SU(2) gauge group, is extended to SU(3). This model is based on the assumption that vortex world-surfaces can be viewed as random surfaces in Euclidean space-time. The confining properties are investigated, with a particular emphasis on the finite-temperature deconfining phase transition. The model predicts a very weak first order transition, in agreement with SU(3) lattice Yang-Mills theory, and also reproduces a consistent behavior of the spatial string tension in the deconfined phase. The geomet…
Recent works have explored non-perturbative effects due to the existence of (infinitesimal) Gribov copies in Yang-Mills-Chern-Simons theories in three Euclidean dimensions. In particular, the removal of such copies modify the gauge field propagator by a self-consistent dynamically generated mass parameter, the Gribov parameter. Due to the interplay with the topological mass introduced by the Chern-Simons term, the propagator features a non-trivial set of phases with poles of different nature, leading to the possible interpretation of a confinfing to deconfining phase transition. Inhere, we res…
The Coulomb gauge in QCD is the only explicitly unitary gauge. But it suffers from energy-divergences which means that it is not rigorously well-defined. One way to define it unambiguously is as the limit of a gauge interpolating between the Feynman gauge and the Coulomb gauge. This interpolating gauge is characterized by a parameter theta and the Coulomb gauge is obtained in the limit theta tends to 0. We study the renormalization of this theta-gauge for all values of theta. Novel features include field mixing as well as scaling, the renormalization of the theta parameter itself, and the appe…
The Coulomb gauge in QCD is the only explicitly unitary gauge. But it suffers from energy-divergences which means that it is not rigorously well-defined. One way to define it unambiguously is as the limit of a gauge interpolating between the Landau gauge and the Coulomb gauge. This interpolating gauge is characterised by a parameter theta and the Coulomb gauge is obtained in the limit theta tends to zero. We study the renormalization of this theta-gauge for all values of theta, and note some special features of it.
We discuss the existence of $θ$-vacua in pure Yang-Mills theory in two space-time dimensions. More precisely, a procedure is given which allows one to classify the distinct quantum theories possessing the same classical limit for an arbitrary connected gauge group G and compact space-time manifold M (possibly with boundary) possessing a special basepoint. For any such G and M it is shown that the above quantizations are in one-to-one correspondence with the irreducible unitary representations (IUR's) of $π_1(G)$ if M is orientable, and with the IUR's of $π_1(G)/2π_1(G)$ if M is nonorientable.
A scalar adjoint field is introduced as a spatial average over (anti)calorons in a thermalized SU(2) Yang-Mills theory. This field is associated with the thermal ground state in the deconfining phase and acts as a background for gauge fields of trivial topology. Without invoking detailed microscopic information we study the properties of the corresponding potential, and we discuss its thermodynamical implications. We also investigate the gluon condensate at finite temperature relating it to the adjoint scalar field.
We revisit the issue of the vacuum angle theta dependence in weakly coupled (Higgsed) Yang-Mills theories. Two most popular mechanisms for eliminating physical theta dependence are massless quarks and axions. Anselm and Johansen noted that the vacuum angle theta(EW), associated with the electroweak SU(2) in the Glashow-Weinberg-Salam model, is unobservable although all fermion fields obtain masses through Higgsing and there is no axion. We generalize this idea to a broad class of Higgsed Yang-Mills theories. In the second part we consider consequences of Grand Unification. We start from a unif…
Calorons and plane waves within and in between them {\sl collectively} give rise to a thermal ground state. The latter provides a homgeneous energy density and a negative pressure, and it induces quasiparticle masses to part of the propagating spectrum of deconfining SU(2) Yang-Mills thermodynamics (dynamical gauge-symmetry breaking). In the present talk we discuss the role of a {\sl single} caloron in inducing effective local vertices, characterized by powers of $\hbar$, mediating the interaction of plane waves which propagate over large distances. The constraints on momentum transfers throug…
The conditions leading to a nontrivial renormalization of the topological charge in four--dimensional Yang--Mills theory are discussed. It is shown that if the topological term is regarded as the limit of a certain nontopological interaction, quantum effects due to the gauge bosons lead to a finite multiplicative renormalization of the theta--parameter while fermions give rise to an additional shift of theta. A truncated form of an exact renormalization group equation is used to study the scale dependence of the theta--parameter. Possible implications for the strong CP--problem of QCD are disc…
We propose a general strategy to determine universal properties induced by a nearby phase transition on a non-order parameter field. A general renormalizable Lagrangian is used, which contains the order parameter and a non-order parameter field, and respects all the symmetries present. We investigate the case in which the order parameter field depends only on space coordinates and the case in which this field is also time dependent. We find that the spatial correlators of the non-order parameter field, in both cases, are infrared dominated and can be used to determine properties of the phase t…
In this letter we derive the Seiberg-Witten map for noncommutative super Yang-Mills theory in Wess-Zumino gauge. Following (and using results of) hep-th/0108045 we split the observer Lorentz transformations into a covariant particle Lorentz transformation and a remainder which gives directly the Seiberg-Witten differential equations. These differential equations lead to a theta-expansion of the noncommutative super Yang-Mills action which is invariant under commutative gauge transformations and commutative observer Lorentz transformation, but not invariant under commutative supersymmetry trans…
Existence of theta-vacuum states in Yang--Mills theories defined over asymptotically flat space-times examined taking into account not only the topology but the complicated causal structure of these space-times, too. By a result of Galloway apparently causality makes all vacuum states, seen by a distant observer, homotopically equivalent making the introduction of theta-terms unnecessary. But a more careful analysis shows that certain twisted classical vacuum states survive even in this case eventually leading to the conclusion that the concept of ``theta-vacua'' is meaningful in the case of g…
A brief review of effective SU(2) Yang-Mills thermodynamics in the deconfining phase is given, including the construction of the thermal ground-state estimate in terms of an inert, adjoint scalar field $ϕ$, based on non-propagating (anti)selfdual field configurations of topological charge unity. We explain why the screening physics of an SU(2) photon is subject to an electric-magnetically dual interpretation. Next, we elucidate how a low-frequency excess of line temperature in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) determines the value of the critical temperature of the deconfining-preconfining…
We report on a precise computation of the topological charge distribution in the SU(3) Yang--Mills theory. It is carried out on the lattice with high statistics Monte Carlo simulations by employing the definition of the topological charge suggested by Neuberger's fermions. We observe significant deviations from a Gaussian distribution. Our results disfavour the theta behaviour of the vacuum energy predicted by instanton models, while they are compatible with the expectation from the large Nc expansion.
The thermodynamic properties of ${\cal N}=1$ supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory with an arbitrary gauge group are investigated. In the confined range, we show that identifying the bound state spectrum with a Hagedorn one coming from non-critical closed superstring theory leads to a prediction for the value of the deconfining temperature $T_c$ that agrees with recent lattice data. The deconfined phase is studied by resorting to a $T$-matrix formulation of statistical mechanics in which the medium under study is seen as a gas of quasigluons and quasigluinos interacting nonperturbatively. Emphasis …
It has recently been shown that a center-twisted compactification of the four-dimensional pure $SU(N)$ Yang-Mills theory on a three-torus gives rise to the two-dimensional $\mathbb{CP}^{N-1}$-model on a circle with a flavor-twisted boundary condition. We verify the consistency of this statement non-perturbatively at theta angle $θ=π$, in terms of the mixed 't Hooft anomalies for flavor symmetries and the time-reversal symmetry. This provides further support for the approach to the confinement of four-dimensional Yang-Mills theory from the two-dimensional $\mathbb{CP}^{N-1}$-model.
We attempt to determine the partition function of ${\cal N}=4$ super Yang-Mills theory for $ADE$ gauge groups on $K3$ and investigate the relation with affine Lie algebras. In particular we describe eta functions, which compose SU(N) partition function, by level $N$ $A_{N-1}$ theta functions. Moreover we find $D,E$ theta functions, which satisfy the Montonen-Olive duality for $D,E$ partition functions.
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 controlled way. We explicitly consider two classes of theories, gauge theories with a center symmetry, such as SU(N_c) gauge theory for arbitrary N_c, and theories without a center symmetry, such as G_2 gauge theory. The mechanism governing the phase transition is universal and valid for all simple groups. The perturbative one-loop potential as well as monopole-i…
In this work we show the step by step calculations needed to quantify the contribution of a three-loop order diagram with dihedral symmetry to the radiative corrections of the pressure in SU(2) thermal Yang-Mills theory in deconfining phase. We surveyed past developments, and performed computations for separate channel combinations, defined by Mandelstam variables which are constrained by two 4-vertices. An analytically integrable approximation for high-temperature conditions was found, to verify the relevance of the corrections for this diagram. A numerical analysis with Monte Carlo methods w…
In this article we expound a discovery of the quantum equivalence/duality of U(N) noncommutative quantum field theories (NC QFT) related by the theta-exact Seiberg-Witten (SW) maps and at all orders in the perturbation theory with respect to the coupling constant. We show that this proof holds for Super Yang-Mills (SYM) theories with N=0,1,2,4$ supersymmetry. In short, Seiberg-Witten map does commute with the quantization of the U(N) NCQFT independently, with or without supersymmetry.
