Screening and confinement in U(1)^{N-1} Abelian effective theories

TL;DR

This paper analyzes how dynamical charged particles influence screening and confinement in U(1)^{N-1} Abelian theories of QCD, explaining phenomena like potential flattening and string breaking without relying on Z(N) symmetry.

Contribution

It introduces an effective action framework for integer electric currents to describe screening effects and clarifies the mechanisms of string breaking in Abelian effective theories.

Findings

Screening causes potential flattening at long distances.

Polyakov-loop correlators better reveal screening than Wilson loops.

String breaking occurs without Z(N) symmetry considerations.

Abstract

We discuss the effect of dynamical charged particles in U(1)^{N-1} Abelian effective theories of QCD. Screening and confinement at zero temperature are explained qualitatively. The effect of dynamically charged particle is expressed in terms of an effective action of integer electric currents. When a screening is expected, the static potential shows a flattening in the long-range region and a linear behavior in the intermediate region. We show why the screening is better observed in the Polyakov-loop correlators than in the Wilson loops. The breaking of the adjoint string is explained without the Z(N) picture.