Color confinement from fluctuating topology

TL;DR

This paper explores how the non-trivial topological structure of the QCD vacuum, characterized by fluctuating topology, underpins color confinement and gluon screening, with implications across various high-energy physics phenomena.

Contribution

It links fluctuating topology in the QCD vacuum to color confinement and gluon screening, providing a novel perspective on non-perturbative QCD effects.

Findings

Fluctuating topology is crucial for understanding color confinement.

Gluon screening is connected to topological fluctuations.

Implications extend to spin physics and quark-gluon plasma.

Abstract

QCD possesses a compact gauge group, and this implies a non-trivial topological structure of the vacuum. In this contribution to the Gribov-85 Memorial volume, we first discuss the origin of Gribov copies and their interpretation in terms of fluctuating topology in the QCD vacuum. We then describe the recent work with E. Levin that links the confinement of gluons and color screening to the fluctuating topology, and discuss implications for spin physics, high energy scattering, and the physics of quark-gluon plasma.