On the behaviour of spatial Wilson loops in the high temperature phase of Lattice Gauge Theories

TL;DR

This paper investigates the behavior of spatial Wilson loops at high temperatures in lattice gauge theories, revealing that flux tube fluctuations vanish and linking flux tube thickness to the deconfinement temperature.

Contribution

It demonstrates that flux tube fluctuations disappear at high temperatures and establishes a relation between flux tube thickness and the deconfinement temperature in (2+1)D gauge theories.

Findings

Flux tube fluctuations vanish at high temperature.

Flux tube thickness equals the inverse of deconfinement temperature.

Comparison of $Z_2$ gauge model data with flux tube model predictions.

Abstract

The behaviour of the space-like string tension in the high temperature phase is studied. Data obtained in the $Z_2$ gauge model in (2+1) dimensions are compared with predictions of a simple model of a fluctuating flux tube with finite thickness. It is shown that in the high temperature phase contributions coming from the fluctuations of the flux tube vanish. As a consequence we also show that in (2+1) dimensional gauge theories the thickness of the flux tube coincides with the inverse of the deconfinement temperature.