Glueball-Like Screening Masses in Pure SU(3) at Finite Temperatures

TL;DR

This study explores the behavior of screening masses in the gluon sector of pure SU(3) gauge theory at finite temperatures, revealing how the excitation spectrum evolves across the confinement-deconfinement transition.

Contribution

It introduces a classification scheme for loop operators under the symmetry group of the z-slice and analyzes the temperature dependence of screening masses in different phases.

Findings

Large thermal shift of the 0++ glueball mass in the confined phase.

Spectrum reflects zero temperature symmetries in the confined phase.

Distinct screening masses for electric and magnetic gluon polarizations in the deconfined phase.

Abstract

We investigate the finite-temperature excitation spectrum in the gluon sector of $SU(3)$ pure gauge theory through measurements of screening masses in correlations of loop operators. We develop the classification of such operators under the symmetry group of the `$z$-slice'. In the confined phase of the theory, we find that the spectrum dynamically realises the zero temperature symmetries. We observe a large thermal shift of the $0^{++}$ glueball mass. In the deconfined phase, the spectrum distinguishes between operators coupling to electrically and magnetically polarised gluon fields. The former yields a screening mass equal to the Wilson-line screening mass; the latter, a method for the measurement of the magnetic mass in the high-temperature limit.