Center dominance and Z{sub 2} vortices in SU(2) lattice gauge theory
- Department of Physics, University of Wales Swansea, SA2 8PP Swansea (United Kingdom)
- Institut fuer Kernphysik, Technische Universitaet Wien, 1040 Vienna (Austria)
- Physics and Astronomy Department, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California 94132 (United States)
- Theoretical Physics Group, Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States)
- Institute of Physics, Slovak Academy of Sciences, 842 28 Bratislava (Slovakia)
We find, in close analogy to Abelian dominance in the maximal Abelian gauge, the phenomenon of center dominance in the maximal center gauge for SU(2) lattice gauge theory. The maximal center gauge is a gauge-fixing condition that preserves a residual Z{sub 2} gauge symmetry; {open_quotes}center projection{close_quote}{close_quote} is the projection of SU(2) link variables onto Z{sub 2} center elements, and {open_quotes}center dominance{close_quote}{close_quote} is the fact that the center-projected link elements carry most of the information about the string tension of the full theory. We present numerical evidence that the thin Z{sub 2} vortices of the projected configurations are associated with {open_quotes}thick{close_quote}{close_quote} Z{sub 2} vortices in the unprojected configurations. The evidence also suggests that the thick Z{sub 2} vortices may play a significant role in the confinement process. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG03-92ER40711
- OSTI ID:
- 467486
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review, D, Vol. 55, Issue 4; Other Information: PBD: Feb 1997
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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