Vortices and bags in 2+1 dimension

TL;DR

This paper studies how fundamental quarks affect the low energy effective theory of nonabelian gauge theories in 2+1 dimensions, revealing that magnetic symmetry becomes local and leads to bag-like confinement structures.

Contribution

It constructs an effective Lagrangian incorporating local magnetic symmetry due to fundamental quarks and analyzes the resulting physical consequences.

Findings

Magnetic $Z_N$ symmetry becomes local with fundamental charges.

Finite energy states exhibit bag-like structures confining quarks.

Quarks are confined within regions of suppressed vortex field.

Abstract

We consider the effect of the (heavy) fundamental quarks on the low energy effective Lagrangian description of nonabelian gauge theories in 2+1 dimensions. We show that in the presence of the fundamental charges, the magnetic $Z_N$ symmetry becomes local. We construct the effective Lagrangian representing this local symmetry in terms of magnetic vortex fields, and discuss its physical consequences. We show that the finite energy states described by this Lagrangian have distinct bag-like structure. The point-like quarks are confined to the region of space where the value of the vortex field is much smaller than in the surrounding vacuum.