Effective String Picture for Confining Gauge Theories at Finite Temperature

TL;DR

This paper investigates the effective string model of confinement at finite temperature, deriving predictions for the interquark potential and validating them against lattice gauge theory simulations.

Contribution

It provides analytical predictions for the interquark potential at finite temperature based on the Nambu-Goto string model and compares these with high-precision lattice simulation results.

Findings

Confirmation of the Lüscher term at low temperatures

Analytical subleading corrections derived from the Nambu-Goto action

Agreement between theoretical predictions and lattice simulation data

Abstract

We study the ``effective string picture'' of confinement, deriving theoretical predictions for the interquark potential at finite temperature. At low temperatures, the leading string correction to the linear confining potential between a heavy quark-antiquark pair is the "L\"uscher term''. Assuming a Nambu-Goto effective string action, subleading contributions can be worked out in an analytical way. We also discuss the contribution given by a possible ``boundary term'' in the effective action, and compare these predictions with high precision results from simulations of lattice Z(2) gauge theory in three dimensions, obtained with an algorithm that exploits the duality of the Z(2) gauge model with the Ising spin model.