Gluon propagators and center vortices in gluon plasma

TL;DR

This study investigates how center vortices influence electric and magnetic gluon propagators in quark-gluon plasma, revealing that magnetic components are strongly affected by vortex removal, especially in the infrared region.

Contribution

It demonstrates the significant role of center vortices in magnetic gluon propagators within the deconfined phase of SU(2) lattice theory.

Findings

Magnetic propagators are strongly affected by vortex removal in the infrared.

Electric propagators are nearly unaffected by vortex removal.

Center vortices contribute significantly to magnetic degrees of freedom in the plasma.

Abstract

We study electric and magnetic components of the gluon propagators in quark-gluon plasma in terms of center vortices by using a quenched simulation of SU(2) lattice theory. In the Landau gauge, the magnetic components of the propagators are strongly affected in the infrared region by removal of the center vortices, while the electric components are almost unchanged by this procedure. In the Coulomb gauge, the time-time correlators, including an instantaneous interaction, also have an essential contribution from the center vortices. As a result, one finds that magnetic degrees of freedom in the infrared region couple strongly to the center vortices in the deconfinement phase.