Renormalized Polyakov loops in various representations in finite temperature SU(2) gauge theory

TL;DR

This paper investigates the behavior of renormalized Polyakov loops across different representations in SU(2) and compares them with SU(3), focusing on their scaling near the critical temperature and testing Casimir scaling.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of renormalized Polyakov loops in various representations in SU(2) and compares these with SU(3) results, highlighting scaling properties.

Findings

Polyakov loops exhibit Casimir scaling in the deconfined phase.

Scaling behavior near the critical temperature is characterized.

Comparative analysis between SU(2) and SU(3) gauge theories is presented.

Abstract

We present results for the renormalized Polyakov loop in the three lowest irreducible representations of SU(2) gauge theory at finite temperature. We will discuss their scaling behavior near $T_c$ and test Casimir scaling in the deconfined phase. Moreover, we will compare these results to calculations for the renormalized Polyakov loops in several representations in the SU(3) gauge theory.