Wilson Loops, Winding modes, and Domain Walls in Finite Temperature QCD

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the role of Polyakov-Wilson loops and domain walls in finite temperature QCD, revealing new insights into deconfinement transition order parameters and the energetic properties of $Z_N$ domain walls.

Contribution

It provides a novel effective action framework for Polyakov-Wilson loops and revises the understanding of the free energy associated with $Z_N$ domain walls in high-temperature QCD.

Findings

Polyakov-Wilson loops serve as key order parameters for deconfinement.

The free energy of $Z_N$ domain walls is significantly larger than previously estimated.

The results have implications for cosmological models involving these domain walls.

Abstract

We discuss the effective action for Polyakov-Wilson loops winding around compact Euclidean time, which serve as order parameters for the finite temperature deconfinement transition in $SU(N)$ Yang-Mills gauge theory. We then apply our results to the study of the high temperature continuation of the confining phase, and to the analysis of certain $Z_N$ domain walls that have been argued to play a role in cosmology. We argue that the free energy of these walls is much larger than previously thought.