We construct an anomaly-preserving compactification of 4d gauge theories, including $SU(N)$ Yang-Mills theory, $\mathcal{N}=1$ supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory, and QCD, down to 2d by turning on 't Hooft flux through $T^2$. It provides a new framework to analytically calculate nonperturbative properties such as confinement, chiral symmetry breaking, and multi-branch structure of vacua. We give the semiclassical description of these phenomena based on the center vortex and show that it enjoys the same anomaly matching condition with the original $4$d gauge theory. We conjecture that the weak-coupling vacuum structure on small $T^2 \times \mathbb{R}^2$ is adiabatically connected to the strong-coupling regime on $\mathbb{R}^4$ without any phase transitions. In QCD with fundamental quarks as well, we can turn on 't Hooft flux either by activating $SU(N_f)_{\mathrm{V}}$ symmetry twist for $N_f=N$ flavors or by introducing a magnetic flux of baryon number $U(1)_{\mathrm{B}}$ for arbitrary $N_f$ flavors. In both cases, the weak-coupling center-vortex theory gives the prediction consistent with chiral Lagrangian of $4$d QCD.
We study the geometric realization of the Higgs phenomenon in type II string compactifications on Calabi--Yau manifolds. The string description is most directly phrased in terms of confinement of magnetic flux, with magnetic charged states arising from D-branes wrapped around chains as opposed to cycles. The rest of the closed cycle of the D-brane worldvolume is manifested as a confining flux tube emanating from the magnetic charges, in the uncompactified space. We also study corrections to hypermultiplet moduli for type II compactifications, in particular for type IIA near the conifold point.
The compactification on a torus in $SU(\infty)$ Yang-Mills theory is considered. A special form of the configuration of a gauge field on a torus is examined. The vacuum energy and free energy in the presence of fermions coupled with this background in the theory are derived and possible symmetry breaking is investigated.
We show that the spontaneous compactification of the Abelian and non-Abelian two-form gauge field theories from $D=4+1$ to $D=3+1$ leads to the same theories plus the Maxwell and Yang-Mills ones, respectively. The vector potential comes from the zero mode of the fifth component of the tensor gauge field in D=5. Concerning to the non-Abelian case, it is necessary to make a more refined definition of the three-form stress tensor in order to be compatible, after the compactification, with the two-form stress tensor of the Yang-Mills theory.
The role of instantons in three dimensional N=2 supersymmetric SU(2) Yang-Mills theory is studied, especially in relation to the issue of confinement. The instanton-induced low energy effective action is derived by extending the dilute gas approximation to the super-moduli space of instantons. Following Polyakov's description of confinement in compact U(1) gauge theory, it is argued that there is no confinement in N=2 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory.
We present a semiclassical calculation of instanton effects in N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory formulated on R^{3}XS^{1} and also in the N=1 theory obtained by introducing chiral multiplet masses. In the N=4 case, these instanton effects are related to the bulk contribution to the index which counts BPS dyons in the corresponding four dimensional theory. In both cases, the calculations provide semiclassical tests of recently proposed exact results for the lowest non-trivial terms in the derivative expansion of the Wilsonian effective action.
We study N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills (SYM) theory with gauge group SU(2) compactified to three dimensions on a circle of circumference beta. The eight fermion terms in the effective action on the Coulomb branch are determined exactly, for all beta, assuming the existence of an interacting Spin(8) invariant fixed point at the origin. The resulting formulae are manifestly invariant under the SL(2,Z) duality of four dimensional N=4 SYM and lead to interesting quantitative predictions for instanton effects in gauge theory and in Type II string theory.
Matrix theory compactifications on tori have associated Yang-Mills theories on the dual tori with sixteen supercharges. A noncommutative description of these Yang-Mills theories based in deformation quantization theory is provided. We show that this framework allows a natural generalization of the `Moyal B-deformation' of the Yang-Mills theories to non-constant background B-fields on curved spaces. This generalization is described through Fedosov's geometry of deformation quantization.
The SU(4)-instanton equations are natural BPS equations for instantons on 8-manifolds. We study these equations on nearly Kaehler and Calabi-Yau torsion manifolds of the form M x G/H, with G/H a coset space and M a product of a torus with Euclidean space. By imposing G-invariance the instanton equations reduce to interesting equations on M; for example, equations used by Kapustin and Witten in the geometric Langlands program arise in this way. We carry out reductions in a number of examples, and where possible present simple solutions.
In this paper we present a model of confinement based on an analogy with the confinement mechanism of the Schwarzschild solution of general relativity. Using recently discovered exact, Schwarzschild-like solutions of the SU(2) Yang-Mills-Higgs equations we study the behaviour of a scalar, SU(2) charged test particle placed in the gauge fields of this solution. We find that this test particle is indeed confined inside the color event horizon of our solution. Additionally it is found that this system is a composite fermion even though there are no fundamental fermions in the original Lagrangian.
Abelian potentials of pointlike moving sources are obtained from the nonstandard theory of Yang--Mills field. They are used for the construction of the time-symmetric and time-asymmetric Fokker-type action integrals describing the dynamics of two-particle system with confinement interaction. The time-asymmetric model is reformulated in the framework of the Hamiltonian formalism. The corresponding two-body problem is reduced to quadratures. The behaviour of Regge trajectories is estimated within the semiclassical consideration.
The aim of this talk is to give a brief introduction to the problem of confinement in QCD and to N=2 globally supersymmetric Yang-Mills gauge theories (SYM). While avoiding technicalities as much as possible I will try to emphasize the physical ideas which lie behind the picture of confinement as a consequence of the vacua of QCD to be a dual superconductor. Finally I review the implementation of this picture in the framework of N=2 SYM.
We solve Schrödinger's equation for the ground-state of {\it four}-dimensional Yang-Mills theory as an expansion in inverse powers of the coupling. Expectation values computed with the leading order approximation are reduced to a calculation in {\it two}-dimensional Yang-Mills theory which is known to confine. Consequently the Wilson loop in the four-dimensional theory obeys an area law to leading order and the coupling becomes infinite as the mass-scale goes to zero.
We consider two fundamental long-standing problems in quantum chromodynamics (QCD): the origin of color confinement and structure of a true vacuum and color singlet quantum states. There is a common belief that resolution to these problems needs a knowledge of a strict non-perturbative quantum Yang-Mills theory and new ideas. Our principal idea in resolving these problems is that structure of color confinement and color singlet quantum states must be determined by a Weyl symmetry which is an intrinsic symmetry of the Yang-Mills gauge theory, and by properties of a selected class of solutions s…
We calculate circular Wilson loop expectation value of pure ${\cal N}=1$ super Yang-Mills from the Klebanov-Strassker-Tseytlin solution of supergravity and the proposed gauge/gravity duality. The calculation is performed numerically via searching world-sheet minimal surface. It is shown that Wilson loop exhibits area law for large radius which implies that ${\cal N}=1$ super Yang-Mills is confined at large distance or low energy scale. Meanwhile, Wilson loop exhibits logarithmic behavior for small radius and it indicates asymptotical freedom of ${\cal N}=1$ super Yang-Mills at short distance o…
This paper has been withdrawn by the authors. It contains several errors that the authors believe can still be corrected. However one of the authors strongly disagrees with the setup proposed here. A new version is in progress. The authors aknowledge the referee of PRD for a excelent refereeing.
Features of screening and confinement are studied for a non-Abelian gauge theory with a mixture of pseudoscalar and scalar coupling, in the case where a constant chromo-electric, or chromo-magnetic, strength expectation value is present. Our discussion is carried out using the gauge-invariant but path-dependent variables formalism. We explicitly show that the static potential profile is the sum of a Yukawa and a linear potential, leading to the confinement of static probe charges. Interestingly, similar results have been obtained in the context of gluodynamics in curved space-time. For only ps…
We calculate one-loop corrections to the mass for the zero mode of scalar field in a six-dimensional Yang-Mills theory compactified on a torus with magnetic flux. It is shown that these corrections are exactly cancelled thanks to a shift symmetry under the translation in extra spaces. This result is expected from the fact that the zero mode of scalar field is a Nambu-Goldstone boson of the translational invariance in extra spaces.
We consider an eight-dimensional Einstein-Yang-Mills theory to explore whether Yang-Mills instantons formed in extra dimensions can induce the dynamical instability of our four-dimensional spacetime. We show that the Yang-Mills instantons in extra dimensions can trigger the expansion of our universe in four-dimensional spacetime as well as the dynamical compactification of extra dimensions. We also discuss a possibility to realize a reheating mechanism via the quantum back-reaction from the contracting tiny internal space with a smeared instanton.
Starting from Einstein-Yang-Mills in higher dimensions with an instanton on a compact sphere, we dimensionally reduce to find an effective four-dimensional action describing "hilltop" inflation. Using recent CMB data, we analyse the parameter space of this model to search for viable set-ups. One unique feature of this class of inflationary models is that the value of the inflaton field, or alternatively, the size of the compact sphere, is stabilised dynamically during the inflationary process.
We show that the recent world-sheet analysis of the quantum fluctuations of a short flux tube in type II string theory leads to a simple and precise description of a pair of stuck D0branes in an orientifold compactification of the type I' string theory. The existence of a stable type I' flux tube of sub-string-scale length is a consequence of the confinement of quantized flux associated with the scalar dualized ten-form background field strength *F_{10}, evidence for a -2brane in the BPS spectrum of M theory. Using heterotic-type I duality, we infer the existence of an M2brane of finite width …
We study five dimensional non critical type 0 string theory and its correspondence to non supersymmetric Yang Mills theory in four dimensions. We solve the equations of motion of the low energy effective action and identify a class of solutions that translates into a confining behavior in the IR region of the dual gauge theories. In particular we identify a setup which is dual to pure SU(N) Yang-Mills theory. Possible flows of the solutions to the UV region are discussed. The validity of the solutions and potential sub-leading string corrections are also discussed.
In this talk we want to discuss the color confinement criterion which guarantees confinement of all colored particles including dynamical quarks and gluons. The most well-known criterion is the Kugo-Ojima color confinement criterion derived in the Lorenz gauge. However, it was pointed out that the Kugo-Ojima criterion breaks down for the Maximal Abelian gauge in which quark confinement has been verified according to the dual superconductivity caused by magnetic monopole condensations. We give the color confinement criterion based on the restoration of the residual local gauge symmetry which ca…
We propose a Matrix Theory approach to Romans' massive Type IIA supergravity. It is obtained by applying the procedure of Matrix Theory compactifications to Hull's proposal of the Massive Type IIA String Theory as M-Theory on a twisted torus. The resulting Matrix Theory is a super-Yang Mills theory on large N three-branes with a space dependent non-commutativity parameter, which is also independently derived by a T-duality approach. We give evidence showing that the energies of a class of physical excitations of the super-Yang Mills theory show the correct symmetry expected from Massive Type I…
We study an exactly marginal deformation of N=4 SUSY Yang-Mills with gauge group U(N) using field theory and string theory methods. The classical theory has a Higgs branch for rational values of the deformation parameter. We argue that the quantum theory also has an S-dual confining branch which cannot be seen classically. The low-energy effective theory on these branches is a six-dimensional non-commutative gauge theory with sixteen supercharges. Confinement of magnetic and electric charges, on the Higgs and confining branches respectively, occurs due to the formation of BPS-saturated strings…
Under a Scherk-Schwarz compactification, the AdS soliton and black brane provide a dual description to a confinement/deconfinement phase transition. We extend this construction to asymptotically Lifshitz spacetimes. In particular, we show that there must be a phase transition between the soliton and black hole if the solutions exist. We also construct these solutions numerically and compute the phase diagram.
Structure of exact solutions modelling confinement is discussed for SU(3)-Yang-Mills equations and uniqueness of such confining solutions is proved in a certain sense. Relationship of the obtained results to QCD and the confinement mechanism is considered. Incidentally the Wilson confinement criterion for the found solutions is verified and also numerical estimates for strength of magnetic colour field responsible for linear confinement are adduced in the ground state of charmonium.
We show that dyon and magnetic monopole can be constructed in the gauge-independent way for the $SU(2)$ Yang--Mills theory even in the absence of the scalar field. This result is derived from the recent proposal for obtaining non-trivial topological configurations responsible for quark confinement in the Yang-Mills theory based on the Confinement-Higgs complementary relationship between the pure Yang-Mills theory and the gauge-scalar model with an adjoint scalar field of the fixed length. We discuss how such configurations have the implications for quark confinement.
Using the recently proposed non-linear gauge condition, we show the area law behavior of the Wilson loop and the linear dependence of the instantaneous gluon propagator. The field configurations responsible for confinement are those in the non-linear sector of the gauge-fixing condition (the linear sector being the Coulomb gauge). The non-linear sector is actually composed of "Gribov horizons" on the surfaces parallel to the Coulomb surface. In this sector, the gauge field can be expressed in terms of a scalar field and a new vector field. The effective dynamics of the scalar field suggests no…
We study the quark confinement problem in 2+1 dimensional pure Yang-Mills theory using euclidean instanton methods. The instantons are regularized and dressed Wu-Yang monopoles. The dressing of a monopole is due to the mean field of the rest of the monopoles. We argue that such configurations are stable to small perturbations unlike the case of singular, undressed monopoles. Using exact non-perturbative results for the 3-dim. Coulomb gas, where Debye screening holds for arbitrarily low temperatures, we show in a self-consistent way that a mass gap is dynamically generated in the gauge theory. …
In the previous paper, we have shown the existence of magnetic monopoles in the pure $SU(2)$ Yang--Mills theory with a gauge-invariant mass term for the gluon field being introduced. In this paper, we extend our previous construction of magnetic monopoles to obtain dyons with both magnetic and electric charges. In fact, we solve under the static and spherically symmetric ansatz the field equations of the $SU(2)$ "complementary" gauge-scalar model, which is the $SU(2)$ Yang--Mills theory coupled to a single adjoint scalar field whose radial degree of freedom is eliminated. We show that the nove…
We study the electric flux tubes that undertake color confinement in N=2 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories softly broken down to N=1 by perturbing with the first two Casimir operators. The relevant Abelian Higgs model is not the standard one due to the presence of an off-diagonal coupling among different magnetic U(1) factors. We perform a preliminary study of this model at a qualitative level. BPS vortices are explicitely obtained for particular values of the soft breaking parameters. Generically however, even in the ultrastrong scaling limit, vortices are not critical but live in a "hybrid"…
Many important ideas about string duality that appear in conventional $\T^2$ compactification have analogs for $\T^2$ compactification without vector structure. We analyze some of these issues and show, in particular, how orientifold planes associated with $Sp(n)$ gauge groups can arise from T-duality and how they can be interpreted in F-theory. We also, in an appendix, resolve a longstanding puzzle concerning the computation of $\Tr (-1)^F$ in four-dimensional supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory with gauge group SO(n).
We study the low-energy limit of a compactification of N=4 U(n) super Yang-Mills theory on $S^1$ with boundary conditions modified by an S-duality and R-symmetry twist. This theory has N=6 supersymmetry in 2+1D. We analyze the $T^2$ compactification of this 2+1D theory by identifying a dual weakly coupled type-IIA background. The Hilbert space of normalizable ground states is finite-dimensional and appears to exhibit a rich structure of sectors. We identify most of them with Hilbert spaces of Chern-Simons theory (with appropriate gauge groups and levels). We also discuss a realization of a rel…
We demonstrate a classical equivalence between the large-N limit of the Higgsed N=1* SUSY U(N) Yang-Mills theory and the Maldacena-Nunez twisted compactification of a six dimensional gauge theory on a two-sphere. A direct comparison of the actions and spectra of the two theories reveals them to be identical. We also propose a gauge theory limit which should describe the corresponding spherical compactification of Little String Theory.
In this talk, we examine the physical unitarity in a massive Yang-Mills theory without the Higgs field in which the color gauge symmetry is not spontaneously broken and kept intact. For this purpose, we use a new framework proposed one of the authors based on a nonperturbative construction of a non-Abelian field describing a massive spin-one vector boson field, which enables us to perform the perturbative and nonperturbative studies on the physical unitarity. Moreover, we present a new perturbative treatment for the physical unitarity after giving the general properties of the massive Yang-Mil…
We present a nontechnical review of the current understanding of the phenomenon of color confinement. The emphasis is put on recent advances. This is a combined and slightly expanded version of talks delivered at 14th International QCD Conference "QCD 08," 7-12th July 2008, Montpellier, France, the International Conference "Quark Confinement and the Hadron Spectrum," Mainz, Germany, September 1-6, 2008 (Confinement 08), and the International Conference "Approaches to Quantum Chromodynamics," Oberwoelz, Austria, September 7-13, 2008.
I review the main features of our model of the 4-dimensional Yang-Mills theory vacuum as a liquid of fractional instantons. The model provides a possible microscopic mechanism for Confinement in four dimensional Yang-Mills theory at $T=0$. It also connects this property to other non-perturbative properties of the theory which can be explained by the same model. This paper is a, somewhat enlarged, written up version of my recent talks on the subject given at ICTS-Bangalore, KITP-Santa Barbara and IMSC-Chennai.
This work presents concisely the results obtained from the analysis of the two-point function of the gauge field in the $SU(2)$ and $SU(2)\times U(1)$ gauge theories, in the Landau gauge, coupled to a scalar Higgs field in the fundamental or adjoint representation. Non-perturbative effects are considered by taking into account the Gribov ambiguity. In general, in both Yang-Mills models the gluon propagator has non-trivial contributions of physical and non-physical modes, which clearly depends on the group representation of the Higgs field. These results were presented during the Fourth Winter …
We introduce new variables in four dimensional SU(N) Yang-Mills theory. These variables emerge when we sum the path integral over classical solutions and represent the summation as an integral over appropriate degrees of freedom. In this way we get an effective field theory with SU(N)$\times$SU(N) gauge symmetry. In the instanton approximation our effective theory has in addition a N=2 supersymmetry, and when we sum over all possible solutions we find a Parisi-Sourlas supersymmetry. These extra symmetries can then be broken explicitly by a SU(N) invariant and power counting renormalizable mass…
We derive a gauge-invariant low-energy effective model of the SU(2) Yang-Mills theory. We find that the effective gluon propagator belongs to the Gribov-Stingl type, irrespective of the gauge choice. In the maximally Abelian gauge, especially, we demonstrate that the model exhibits both quark confinement and gluon confinement: the Wilson loop average has area law and the Schwinger function violates reflection positivity. Moreover, we give a formula for the string tension calculable from the gluon propagator of the gauge-invariant field strength and gives a good estimate for the string tension.…
We outline a derivation of area law of the Wilson loop in SU(N) Yang-Mills theory in the maximal Abelian gauge. This is based on a new version of non-Abelian Stokes theorem and the novel reformulation of the Yang-Mills theory. Abelian dominance and monopole dominance of the string tension in SU(N) QCD are immediate consequences of this derivation.
The two-point gauge correlation function in Yang--Mills--Chern--Simons theory in three dimensional Euclidean space is analysed by taking into account the non-perturbative effects of the Gribov horizon. In this way, we are able to describe the confinement and de-confinement regimes, which naturally depend on the topological mass and on the gauge coupling constant of the theory.
We present recent results on quark confinement: in SU(3) Yang-Mills theory, confinement of fundamental quarks is obtained due to the dual Meissner effect originated from non-Abelian magnetic monopoles defined in a gauge-invariant way, which is distinct from the well-known Abelian projection scenario. This is achieved by using a non-Abelian Stokes theorem for the Wilson loop operator and a new reformulation of the Yang-Mills theory.
Using a gauge-invariant matrix parametrization of the gauge fields, we present an analysis of how the mass gap arises in (2+1)-dimensional Yang-Mills theory. We further derive an analytical continuum expression for the vacuum wavefunction and based on this we calculate the string tension which is in excellent agreement with Monte Carlo simulations of the corresponding lattice gauge theory.
The cosmological compactification of D=10, N=1 supergravity-super-Yang-Mills theory obtained from superstring theory is studied. The constraint of unbroken N=1 supersymmetry is imposed. A duality transformation is performed on the resulting consistency conditions. The original equations as well as the transformed equations are solved numerically to obtain new configurations with a nontrivial scale factor and a dynamical dilaton. It is shown that various classes of solutions are possible, which include cosmological solutions with no initial singularity.
In hep-th/0004063 Pilch and Warner (PW) constructed N=2 supersymmetric RG flow corresponding to the mass deformation of the N=4 SU(N) Yang-Mills theory. In this paper we present exact deformations of PW flow when the gauge theory 3-space is compactified on S^3. We consider also the case with the gauge theory world-volume being dS_4 instead of R^{3,1}. The solution is constructed in five-dimensional gauged supergravity and is further uplifted to 10d.
We study cosmology of the Einstein-Yang-Mills theory in ten dimensions with a quartic term in the Yang-Mills field strength. We obtain analytically a class of cosmological solutions in which the extra dimensions are static and the scale factor of the four-dimensional Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker metric is an exponential function of time. This means that the model can explain inflation. Then we look for solutions that describe dynamical compactification of the extra dimensions. The effective cosmological constant $λ_1$ in the four-dimensional universe is determined from the gravitational…
Within the Electric Schroedinger Representation of the Yang-Mills theory the Hamiltonian eigenstate and eigenvalue, as well as the Coulomb and confining potentials are presented for a special regularization-approximation scheme, which focuses on the ultra-local behavior of the propagator.
We perturbatively compute the Polyakov loop potential at high temperature with finite imaginary angular velocity. This imaginary rotation does not violate the causality and the thermodynamic limit is well defined. We analytically show that the imaginary angular velocity induces the perturbatively confined phase and serves as a new probe to confinement physics. We discuss a possible phase diagram that exhibits adiabatic continuity from the perturbative confinement to the confined phase at low temperature. We also mention subtlety in the analytical continuation from imaginary to real angular vel…
Color confinement is the most puzzling phenomenon in the theory of strong interaction based on a quantum SU(3) Yang-Mills theory. The origin of color confinement supposed to be intimately related to non-perturbative features of the non-Abelian gauge theory, and touches very foundations of the theory. We revise basic concepts underlying QCD concentrating mainly on concepts of gluons and quarks and color structure of quantum states. Our main idea is that a Weyl symmetry is the only color symmetry which determines all color attributes of quantum states and physical observables. We construct an an…
We compute the six-dimensional effective action of the heterotic string compactified on K3 for the standard embedding and for a class of backgrounds with line bundles and appropriate Yang-Mills fluxes. We compute the couplings of the charged scalars and the bundle moduli as functions of the geometrical K3 moduli from a Kaluza-Klein analysis. We derive the D-term potential and show that in the flux backgrounds U(1) vector multiplets become massive by a Stuckelberg mechanism.
Recently, a geometric model for the confinement of magnetic charges in the context of type II string compactifications was constructed by Greene, Morrison and Vafa. This model assumes the existence of stable magnetic vortices with quantized flux in the low energy theory. However, quantization of flux alone does not imply that the vortex is stable, since the flux may not be confined to a tube of definite size. We show that in the field theoretical model which underlies the geometric model of confinement, static, cylindrically symmetric magnetic vortices do not exist. While our results do not pr…
Electric self-dual vortices arising as BPS states in the strong coupling limit of N=2 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory, softly broken to N=1, are reported.
In the framework of the functional renormalization group, we reexamine the stability of the Yang-Mills vacuum with a chromomagnetic condensation. We show that the Nielsen-Olesen instability of the Savvidy vacuum with a homogeneous chromomagnetic condensation disappears in the $SU(2)$ Yang-Mills theory. As a physical mechanism for maintaining the stability even for the small infrared cutoff, we argue that dynamical gluon mass generation occurs due to a BRST-invariant vacuum condensate of mass dimension-two, which is related to two-gluon bound states identified with glueballs. These results supp…
Within the Hamiltonian approach to Yang-Mills theory in Coulomb gauge the ghost and gluon propagators are determined from a variational solution of the Yang-Mills Schroedinger equation showing both gluon and heavy quark confinement. The continuum results are in good agreement with lattice data. The ghost form factor is identified as the dielectric function of the Yang--Mills vacuum and the Gribov-Zwanziger confinement scenario is shown to imply the dual Meissner effect. The topological susceptibility is calculated.
We derive a gauge-invariant low-energy effective model of the Yang-Mills theory. We find that the effective gluon propagator belongs to the Gribov-Stingl type and agrees with it when a mass term which breaks nilpotency of the BRST symmetry is included. We show that the effective model with gluon propagator of the Gribov-Stingl type exhibits both quark and gluon confinement: the Wilson loop average has the area law and the Schwinger function violates reflection positivity. However, we argue that both quark and gluon confinement can be obtained even in the absence of such a mass term.
