The Difference between the Longitudinal and Transverse Gluon Propagators as an Indicator of the Postconfinement Domain

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the difference between longitudinal and transverse gluon propagators varies with momentum and temperature near the deconfinement transition, revealing a potential boundary of the postconfinement domain.

Contribution

It introduces a numerical analysis of the gluon propagator difference as an indicator of the postconfinement boundary in SU(2) and SU(3) gluodynamics.

Findings

The integral of the propagator difference correlates with the Polyakov loop.

The propagator difference changes sign at T_p ~ 1.2 T_c.

T_p may serve as a boundary of the postconfinement domain.

Abstract

We study numerically the dependence of the difference between the longitudinal and transverse gluon propagators, $\Delta=D_L-D_T$, on the momentum and temperature at $T\gtrsim T_c$ both in SU(2) and SU(3) gluodynamics. It is found that the integral of $\Delta$ with respect to the 3-momentum is sensitive only to infrared dynamics and shows a substantial correlation with the Polyakov loop. At $T=T_p\sim 1.2 T_c$ it changes sign giving some evidence that $T_p$ can serve as a boundary of the postconfinement domain.