Is Confinement a Phase of Broken Dual Gauge Symmetry?

TL;DR

This paper investigates whether broken dual gauge symmetry always correlates with confinement in lattice gauge theories, finding examples where symmetry breaking occurs without a confinement transition, challenging existing interpretations.

Contribution

It provides evidence that dual gauge symmetry breaking can occur independently of confinement, questioning the link assumed in the dual superconductor hypothesis.

Findings

Examples of symmetry breaking without confinement transition

Challenges to the Pisa monopole criterion interpretation

Implications for dual superconductor models

Abstract

We study whether broken dual gauge symmetry, as detected by a monopole order parameter introduced by the Pisa group, is necessarily associated with the confinement phase of a lattice gauge theory. We find a number of examples, including SU(2) gauge-Higgs theory, mixed fundamental-adjoint SU(2) gauge theory, and pure SU(5) gauge theory, which appear to indicate a dual gauge symmetry transition in the absence of a transition to or from a confined phase. While these results are not necessarily fatal to the dual superconductor hypothesis, they may pose some problems of interpretation for the present formulation of the Pisa monopole criterion.