Confining properties of 2-color QCD at finite density

We study the confining properties of QCD with two colors across the finite density phase transition. A disorder parameter detecting dual superconductivity of the QCD vacuum is used as a probe for the confinement/deconfinement phase transition.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, talk presented at Lattice 2006 (High Temperature and Density

Magnetic monopoles in high temperature QCD

We study the density and spatial distribution of thermal Abelian monopoles in the deconfined phase of SU(2) pure gauge theory: they display non-trivial interactions with a well defined continuum limit. The Maximal Abelian Gauge (MAG) has been chosen to perform the Abelian projection. Questions related to the choice of the Abelian projection, as well as possible directions for future studies, are discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, contribution to the 8th Conference on Quark Confinement and the Hadron Spectrum, September 1-6, 2008, Mainz, German

Thermal monopoles and selfdual dyons in the Quark-Gluon Plasma

We perform a numerical study of the excess of non-abelian gauge invariant gluonic action around thermal abelian monopoles which populate the deconfined phase of Yang-Mills theories. Our results show that the excess of magnetic action is close to that of the electric one, so that thermal abelian monopoles may be associated with physical objects carrying both electric and magnetic charge, i.e. dyons. Thus, the quark gluon plasma is likely to be populated by selfdual dyons, which may manifest themselves in the heavy-ion collisions via the chiral magnetic effect. Thermodynamically, thermal monopoles provide a negative contribution to the pressure of the system.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, RevTeX 4.

On the phase diagram of the Higgs SU(2) model

The Higgs SU(2) model with fixed Higgs length is usually believed to have two different phases at high gauge coupling (\beta), separated by a line of first order transitions but not distinuguished by any typical symmetry associated with a local order parameter, as first proved by Fradkin and Shenker. We show that in regions of the parameter space where it is usually supposed to be a first order phase transition only a smooth crossover is in fact present.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures. Talk presented at The XXVI International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, July 14 - 19, 2008 - Williamsburg, Virginia, US

Confining Properties of Two-color QCD at Finite Density

We study the confining properties of QCD with two colors across the finite density phase transition. A disorder parameter detecting dual superconductivity of the QCD vacuum is used as a probe for the confinement/deconfinement phase transition

Dual superconductivity and vacuum properties in Yang--Mills theories

We address, within the dual superconductivity model for color confinement, the question whether the Yang-Mills vacuum behaves as a superconductor of type I or type II. In order to do that we compare, for the theory with gauge group SU(2), the determination of the field penetration depth $\lambda$ with that of the superconductor correlation length $\xi$. The latter is obtained by measuring the temporal correlator of a disorder parameter developed by the Pisa group to detect dual superconductivity. The comparison places the vacuum close to the border between type I and type II and marginally on the type II side. We also check our results against the study of directly measurable effects such as the interaction between two parallel flux tubes, obtaining consistent indications for a weak repulsive behaviour. Future strategies to improve our investigation are discussed.Comment: 23 pages, 15 figures. Simulations on finer lattices and with different monopole charges added. Final version to be published in Nuclear Physics

Dual superconducting properties of the QCD vacuum

A consistent description of the confining QCD vacuum as a dual superconductor requires a determination of fundamental parameters such as the superconductor correlation length $\xi$ and the field penetration depth $\lambda$, which determine whether the superconductor is of type I or type II. We illustrate preliminary results of a lattice determination of $\xi$ for the case of pure Yang-Mills with two colors, obtained by measuring the temporal correlator of a disorder parameter detecting dual superconductivity.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, talk presented at QCD05 (Montpellier) 4-9 July 200

Magnetic Component of Quark-Gluon Plasma

We describe recent developments of the "magnetic scenario" of sQGP. We show that at $T=(0.8-1.3)T_c$ there is a dense plasma of monopoles, capable of supporting metastable flux tubes. Their existence allows to quantitatively explained the non-trivial $T$-dependence of the static $\bar Q Q$ potential energy calculated on the lattice. By molecular dynamics simulation we derived transport properties (shear viscosity and diffusion constant) and showed that the best liquid is given by most symmetric plasma, with 50%-50% of electric and magnetic charges. The results are close to those of the ``perfect liquid'' observed at RHIC.Comment: Contribution to the 20th International Conference on Nucleus Nucleus Collisions (Quark Matter 2008

Quark-Gluon Plasma - New Frontiers

As implied by organizers, this talk is not a conference summary but rather an outline of progress/challenges/``frontiers'' of the theory. Some fundamental questions addressed are: Why is sQGP such a good liquid? Do we understand (de)confinement and what do we know about ``magnetic'' objects creating it? Can we understand the AdS/CFT predictions, from the gauge theory side? Can they be tested experimentally? Can AdS/CFT duality help us understand rapid equilibration/entropy production? Can we work out a complete dynamical ``gravity dual'' to heavy ion collisions?Comment: final talk at Quark Matter 2008, Jaipur, India, Feb.200

Magnetic monopoles in the high temperature phase of Yang-Mills theories.

We investigate the properties of thermal Abelian magnetic monopoles in the high temperature phase of Yang–Mills theories, following a recent proposal for their identification on lattice configurations. The study is done for SU(2) pure gauge theory, for temperatures going up to about 10 times the deconfining temperature and using the Maximal Abelian gauge to perform the Abelian projection. We find that the monopole density has a well defined continuum limit. Its temperature dependence disagrees with a free particle gas prediction and is instead well described by a T^3/(log(T /Λ))^a behaviour in all the explored range, with α ∼ 2 and Λ ∼ 100 MeV. Also the study of spatial correlations of thermal monopoles shows the presence of non-trivial interactions among them. Finally, we discuss the gauge dependence of our results, showing that it is significant and that, even within the Maximal Abelian gauge, Gribov copy effects are important