The center-symmetric Landau gauge meets the lattice

TL;DR

This paper explores a lattice implementation of the center-symmetric Landau gauge, demonstrating its effectiveness as a local order parameter for the confinement-deconfinement transition in gauge theories through numerical simulations.

Contribution

It introduces a lattice approach to the center-symmetric Landau gauge and verifies its predictions with Monte Carlo simulations, addressing Gribov copies and establishing local order parameters.

Findings

Link averages serve as order parameters for phase transition

Numerical results agree with theoretical predictions

Gauge choice allows local proxies for non-local Polyakov loop

Abstract

A lattice implementation of the recently introduced center-symmetric Landau gauge is discussed and its predictions confronted with numerical Monte Carlo simulations. It is shown that the link average and the link correlators computed in that gauge are order parameters of the confinement-deconfinement transition at nonzero temperature. Strictly speaking, this requires a specific treatment of the Gribov copies that we discuss in detail. The numerical simulations comply with the theoretical predictions for the link average computed below and above the deconfinement temperature. Our results show that, within appropriately chosen gauges, one can construct local order parameters for center symmetry, as proxies for the non-local Polyakov loop.