Monopoles and vortices in Yang-Mills plasma

TL;DR

This paper explores how magnetic and electric degrees of freedom behave in Yang-Mills plasma around the critical temperature, potentially explaining its unusual properties.

Contribution

It provides a theoretical discussion on the role of magnetic monopoles and vortices in the phase transition of Yang-Mills plasma.

Findings

Magnetic degrees of freedom condense at zero temperature.

Electric degrees of freedom are confined at zero temperature.

Both magnetic and electric degrees of freedom are released at the phase transition.

Abstract

We discuss the role of magnetic degrees of freedom in Yang-Mills plasma at temperatures above and of order of the critical temperature Tc. While at zero temperature the magnetic degrees of freedom are condensed and electric degrees of freedom are confined, at the point of the phase transition both magnetic and electric degrees of freedom are released into the thermal vacuum. This phenomenon might explain the observed unusual properties of the plasma.