Flux tube delocalization at the deconfinement point

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the flux tube thickness behaves near the deconfinement transition, revealing a linear increase with interquark distance and divergence at the transition, supported by simulations in the 3d gauge Ising model.

Contribution

It introduces a new understanding of flux tube behavior near deconfinement, showing linear growth and divergence, using effective string methods and simulation validation.

Findings

Flux tube width increases linearly with interquark distance near deconfinement.

Amplitude of flux tube growth increases with temperature and diverges at transition.

Simulation results in the 3d gauge Ising model agree with theoretical predictions.

Abstract

We study the behaviour of the flux tube thickness in the vicinity of the deconfinement transition. We show, using effective string methods, that in this regime the square width increases linearly and not logarithmically with the interquark distance. The amplitude of this linear growth is an increasing function of the temperature and diverges as the deconfinement transition is approached from below. These predictions are in good agreement with a set of simulations performed in the 3d gauge Ising model.