skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Gauge fixing and extended Abelian monopoles in SU(2) gauge theory in 2+1 dimensions

Journal Article · · Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (United States)
 [1];  [2];  [1]
  1. TRIUMF, Theory Group, 4004 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 2A3 (Canada)
  2. Department of Physics, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5A 1S6 (Canada)

Extended Abelian monopoles are investigated in SU(2) lattice gauge theory in three dimensions. Monopoles are computed by Abelian projection in several gauges, including the maximal Abelian gauge. The number [ital N][sub [ital m]] of extended monopoles in a cube of size [ital m][sup 3] (in lattice units) is defined as the number of elementary (1[sup 3]) monopoles minus antimonopoles in the cube ([ital m]=1,2, . . .). The distribution of 1[sup 3] monopoles in the nonlocal maximal Abelian gauge is shown to be essentially random, while nonscaling of the density of 1[sup 3] monopoles in some local gauges, which has been previously observed, is shown to be mainly due to strong short-distance correlations. The density of extended monopoles in local gauges is studied as a function of [beta] for monopoles of fixed physical size'' ([ital m]/[beta]=fixed); the degree of scale violation is found to decrease substantially as the monopole size is increased. The possibility therefore remains that long-distance properties of monopoles in local gauges may be relevant to continuum physics, such as confinement.

OSTI ID:
6853299
Journal Information:
Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (United States), Vol. 51:5; ISSN 0556-2821
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English