Gauge-independent Abelian mechanism of color confinement in gluodynamics

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a gauge-independent Abelian mechanism for color confinement in gluodynamics through high-precision lattice simulations, showing that monopoles are responsible for flux squeezing and string tension.

Contribution

It provides evidence that the Abelian dual Meissner effect underpins non-Abelian confinement without gauge fixing, using lattice Monte Carlo methods.

Findings

Abelian Polyakov loop correlators reproduce the same string tension as non-Abelian ones.

Monopole parts of the Abelian field are responsible for flux squeezing and confinement.

Gauge independence of Abelian dominance supports the dual Meissner mechanism.

Abstract

Abelian mechanism of non-Abelian color confinement is observed in a gauge-independent way by high precision lattice Monte Carlo simulations in gluodynamics. An Abelian gauge field is extracted with no gauge-fixing. A static quark-antiquark potential derived from Abelian Polyakov loop correlators gives us the same string tension as the non-Abelian one. The Hodge decomposition of the Abelian Polyakov loop correlator to the regular photon and the singular monopole parts also reveals that only the monopole part is responsible for the string tension. The investigation of the flux-tube profile then shows that Abelian electric fields defined in an arbitrary color direction are squeezed by monopole supercurrents with the same color direction, and the quantitative features of flux squeezing are consistent with those observed previously after Abelian projections with gauge fixing. Gauge independence of Abelian and monopole dominance strongly supports that the mechanism of non-Abelian color confinement is due to the Abelian dual Meissner effect.