Phase diagram of Yang-Mills theories in the presence of a theta term

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the phase structure of non-Abelian gauge theories, specifically the deconfinement temperature, depends on the theta term using lattice methods, large-N analysis, and duality considerations.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive lattice study of the theta dependence of the deconfinement temperature in pure gauge theories, integrating analytic continuation and reweighting techniques.

Findings

Deconfinement temperature varies with theta in a consistent manner across methods.

Large-N considerations offer insights into the phase diagram structure.

Analogies with QCD at imaginary chemical potential are discussed.

Abstract

We study the phase diagram of non-Abelian pure gauge theories in the presence of a topological theta term. The dependence of the deconfinement temperature on theta is determined on the lattice both by analytic continuation and by reweighting, obtaining consistent results. The general structure of the diagram is discussed on the basis of large-N considerations and of the possible analogies and dualities existing with the phase diagram of QCD in presence of an imaginary baryon chemical potential.