# Deconfinement, Screening and Abelian Projection at Finite Temperature

## TL;DR

This paper investigates how static sources behave in finite temperature lattice gauge theories, testing abelian projection's effectiveness in capturing confinement and screening phenomena through combined analytical and numerical methods.

## Contribution

It provides a quantitative assessment of abelian projection in finite-temperature theories, highlighting its qualitative success and quantitative limitations.

## Key findings

- Abelian projection reproduces qualitative features of confinement and screening.
- Quantitative discrepancies exist between abelian projection predictions and actual results.
- The study combines analytical and numerical approaches for a comprehensive analysis.

## Abstract

The behavior of static sources transforming according to different irreducible representations of the gauge group is studied in the context of finite temperature lattice gauge theory. We combine analytical and numerical approaches to extract information about confinement and screening both at low temperatures, and around the deconfinement phase transition. The idea that abelian projection in the Maximally Abelian Gauge reproduces the most important features of confinement and screening is tested at a quantitative level in these finite-T theories. Our results show that while this abelian projection provides correct qualitative features, it fails at a detailed quantitative level.