String breaking and monopoles

TL;DR

This paper investigates string breaking phenomena in Abelian effective theories of QCD, explaining the conditions under which screening occurs and how it manifests in different correlators, providing insights into non-Abelian confinement mechanisms.

Contribution

It offers a detailed analysis of string breaking in Abelian effective theories, clarifying the role of screening and the differences in observable signals in Polyakov-loop versus Wilson loop correlators.

Findings

Screening causes flattening of the potential at long distances.

Polyakov-loop correlators better reveal screening effects than Wilson loops.

The adjoint string breaking is explained without relying on the Z(N) symmetry.

Abstract

The string breaking is discussed in U(1)^{N-1} Abelian effective theories of QCD. 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.