Rectangular Wilson Loops at Large N

TL;DR

This paper investigates rectangular Wilson loops in large N SU(N) Yang-Mills theory, revealing differences from effective string theory predictions in their shape dependence, and demonstrates how to extract the string tension from lattice data.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the shape dependence of Wilson loops near the large-N transition, challenging existing effective string theory models.

Findings

String tension can be extracted from Wilson loops.

Shape dependence differs from effective string theory predictions.

Results are obtained close to the large-N transition point.

Abstract

This work is about pure Yang-Mills theory in four Euclidean dimensions with gauge group SU(N). We study rectangular smeared Wilson loops on the lattice at large N and relatively close to the large-N transition point in their eigenvalue density. We show that the string tension can be extracted from these loops but their dependence on shape differs from the asymptotic prediction of effective string theory.