A second order deconfinement transition for large N 2+1 dimensional Yang-Mills theory on a small two-sphere

TL;DR

This paper analytically investigates the phase transitions of large N 2+1 dimensional Yang-Mills theory on a small sphere, revealing a second order deconfinement transition and a subsequent third order transition, with implications for the phase diagram.

Contribution

It provides an analytical study of the phase structure of large N Yang-Mills theory on a small sphere, identifying the nature of deconfinement transitions and the phase diagram topology.

Findings

Second order deconfinement transition identified

Eigenvalue distribution develops a gap at higher temperature

Existence of a critical radius where transition order changes

Abstract

We study the thermodynamics of large N pure 2+1 dimensional Yang-Mills theory on a small spatial sphere. By studying the effective action for the Polyakov loop order parameter, we show analytically that the theory has a second order deconfinement transition to a phase where the eigenvalue distribution of the Polyakov loop is non-uniform but still spread over the whole unit circle. At a higher temperature, the eigenvalue distribution develops a gap, via an additional third-order phase transition. We discuss possible forms of the full phase diagram as a function of temperature and sphere radius. Our results together with extrapolation of lattice results relevant to the large volume limit imply the existence of a critical radius in the phase diagram at which the deconfinement transition switches from second order to first order. We show that the point at the critical radius and temperature can be either a tricritical point with universal behavior or a triple point separating three distinct phases.