Adjoint ``Quarks'' and the Physics of Confinement

TL;DR

This paper investigates the potential and flux-tube formation between adjoint representation quarks in SU(2) gauge theory, revealing similarities with fundamental quarks and suggesting a dual superconductor model of the QCD vacuum.

Contribution

It demonstrates the formation of color-electric flux-tubes between adjoint quarks in four-dimensional SU(2), providing new insights into the confinement mechanism.

Findings

Flux-tubes form between adjoint quarks in SU(2)

Flux-tube cross-sections are similar for fundamental and adjoint quarks

Results suggest the QCD vacuum may be a dual type I superconductor

Abstract

The quark-antiquark potential and the chromoelectric fields generated by ``quarks'' in the adjoint representation of SU(2) color are analyzed in the scaling region of the theory. New results with interesting implications for our understanding of the confinement mechanism are presented. In particular, the formation of color-electric flux-tubes between adjoint quarks is demonstrated in four-dimensional SU(2) color. The flux-tubes for fundamental and adjoint representation quarks are shown to have very similar cross-sections. This result could imply that the QCD vacuum is dual to a type I superconductor.