Center vortices, magnetic condensate and confinement in a simple gauge system

TL;DR

This paper explores how center vortices and magnetic condensates in 3D Z2 gauge theory underpin confinement, linking topological structures to the area law and string fluctuations.

Contribution

It provides a simple microscopic realization of confinement mechanisms via center vortices and magnetic monopole condensation in a 3D Z2 gauge system.

Findings

Identification of two types of infinite clusters in confining configurations.

Explanation of the area law for Wilson loops through these clusters.

Connection between quantum fluctuations and finite size effects in the flux tube.

Abstract

The confining mechanisms of 't Hooft and Mandelstam have a simple microscopic realization in 3D Z2 gauge theory: the center vortex and the magnetic monopole condensation are associated, in the set of configurations contributing to the confining phase, to the presence of two kinds of infinite clusters. These generate the area law of the large Wilson loops and the universal finite size effects produced by the quantum fluctuations of the bosonic string describing the infrared behavior of the flux tube.