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arXiv · 0807.5012

Manifestations of magnetic vortices in equation of state of Yang-Mills plasma

M. N. Chernodub·Atsushi Nakamura·V. I. Zakharov
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Abstract

The vacuum of Yang-Mills theory contains singular stringlike objects identified with center (magnetic) vortices. Percolation of magnetic vortices is known to be responsible for the color confinement in the low-temperature phase of the theory. In our work we study properties of the vortices at finite temperature using lattice simulations of SU(2) gauge theory. We show that magnetic vortices provide a numerically large contribution to thermodynamic quantities of the gluon plasma in Yang-Mills theory. In particular, we observe that in the deconfinement phase at temperatures T_c < T < 3 T_c the magnetic component of the gluon plasma produces a negative (ghostlike) contribution to the anomaly of the energy-momentum tensor. In the confinement phase the vortex contribution is positive. The thermodynamical significance of the magnetic objects allows us to suggest that the quark-gluon plasma may contain a developed network of magnetic flux tubes. The existence of the vortex network may lead to observable effects in the quark-gluon plasma because the chromomagnetic field of the vortices should scatter and drag quarks.

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M. N. Chernodub, Atsushi Nakamura, V. I. Zakharov. 2009-09-10. Manifestations of magnetic vortices in equation of state of Yang-Mills plasma. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.78.074021

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