Tension of Confining Strings at Low Temperature

TL;DR

This paper uses the blackfold approach to analyze how the string tension in low-temperature confining phases of QCD-like theories decreases with temperature, providing a new method to compute Wilson loops in various backgrounds.

Contribution

It introduces a generalized blackfold method for calculating Wilson loops and explicitly determines the temperature dependence of string tension in confining phases.

Findings

String tension decreases with increasing temperature.

Blackfold approach effectively captures thermal excitations of strings.

Method applicable to diverse backgrounds.

Abstract

In the low temperature confining phase of QCD or QCD-like theories it is challenging to capture the temperature dependence of observables through AdS/CFT. Using the blackfold approach we compute the quark-antiquark linear static potential in the low temperature confining phase, taking into account the thermal excitations of the string. We find the explicit temperature dependence of the string tension and notice that, as naturally expected, tension decreases as temperature increases. We have also generalized the blackfold approach for the computation of the Wilson loops, making it directly applicable to a large class of backgrounds.