The Spatial String Tension in the Deconfined Phase of the (3+1)-Dimensional SU(2) Gauge Theory

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the spatial string tension in SU(2) gauge theory varies with temperature, demonstrating its non-zero continuum limit and providing a scaling relation above the critical temperature.

Contribution

It is the first to show that the spatial string tension scales on the lattice and remains non-zero in the continuum limit, with a detailed temperature dependence analysis.

Findings

Spatial string tension is non-zero in the continuum limit.

Below Tc, the spatial string tension is temperature independent.

Above 2Tc, it follows a specific scaling law with the running coupling.

Abstract

We present results of a detailed investigation of the temperature dependence of the spatial string tension in SU(2) gauge theory. We show, for the first time, that the spatial string tension is scaling on the lattice and thus is non-vanishing in the continuum limit. It is temperature independent below Tc and rises rapidly above. For temperatures larger than 2Tc we find a scaling behaviour consistent with sigma_s(T) = 0.136(11) g^4(T) T^2, where g(T) is the 2-loop running coupling constant with a scale parameter determined as Lambda_T = 0.076(13) Tc.