Two loop renormalisation of the magnetic coupling in hot QCD and spatial Wilson loop

With the known two loop renormalisation of the magnetic coupling, the 4D results of the spatial Wilson loop are compared to the prediction from the magnetostatic sector.Comment: 5 pages. To appear in the proceedings of 6th Conference on Strong and Electroweak Matter 2004 (SEWM04), Helsinki, Finland, 16-19 Jun 200

Cubic order for spatial 't Hooft loop in hot QCD

Spatial 't Hooft loops of strength k measure the qualitative change in the behaviour of electric colour flux in confined and deconfined phase of SU(N) gauge theory. They show an area law in the deconfined phase, known analytically to two loop order with a ``k-scaling'' law k(N-k). In this paper we compute the O(g^3) correction to the tension. It is due to neutral gluon fields that get their mass through interaction with the wall. The simple k-scaling is lost in cubic order. The generic problem of non-convexity shows up in this order. The result for large N is explicitely given.Comment: 5 pages, appears in the proceedings of SEWM200

Spatial 't Hooft loop to cubic order in hot QCD II

In this paper we provide an exact formula for the area law of the 't Hooft loop for any SU(N) gauge group to cubic order in hot gauge theory. The correction is very small for all temperatures above $T_c$, in stark contrast to the cubic correction to the pressure. The gradient approximation in a previous paper, only valid for large N, is in excellent agreement with the present, exact evalution. Comparison to lattice data is good. Casimir scaling is violated by a small amount not yet resolved by the precision of lattice data.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Nucl. Phys. B. Minor changes mad

Quasi particles in hot QCD

We show at very high temperature how the behaviour of the spatial 't Hooft loop in the QCD plasma is simply related to the chromo electric flux of the gluons. This simple picture is vindicated by a systematic quasi classical approach. The spatial Wilson loop 's behaviour is computed by a similar nearly free plasma of magnetic quasiparticles. This model predicts unambiguously ratios of multiply charged Wilson loops. Recent simulations confirm these predictions accurately.Comment: 3 pages. Talk given at Lattice200

Radiative corrections to the pressure and the one-loop polarization tensor of massless modes in SU(2) Yang-Mills thermodynamics

We compute the one-loop polarization tensor $\Pi$ for the on-shell, massless mode in a thermalized SU(2) Yang-Mills theory being in its deconfining phase. Postulating that SU(2)$_{\tiny{CMB}}\stackrel{\tiny{today}}=U(1)_Y$, we discuss $\Pi$'s effect on the low-momentum part of the black-body spectrum at temperatures $\sim 2... 4$ $T_{\tiny{CMB}}$ where $T_{\tiny{CMB}}\sim 2.73$K. A table-top experiment is proposed to test the above postulate. As an application, we point out a possible connection with the stability of dilute, cold, and old innergalactic atomic hydrogen clouds. We also compute the two-loop correction to the pressure arising from the instantaneous massless mode in unitary-Coulomb gauge, which formerly was neglected, and present improved estimates for subdominant corrections.Comment: 25 pages, 17 figs, v4: consequences of a modification of the evolution equation for the effectice coupling implemented, no qualitative change of the physic

Two loop renormalization of the magnetic coupling in hot QCD

Well above the critical temperature hot QCD is described by 3d electrostatic QCD with gauge coupling $g_E$ and Debye mass $m_E$. We integrate out the Debye scales to two loop accuracy and find for the gauge coupling in the resulting magnetostatic action $g_M^2=g_E^2(1-{1\over{48}}{g_E^2N\over{\pi m_E}} -{17\over{4608}}({g_E^2N\over{\pi m_E}})^2+O(({g_E^2N\over{\pi m_E}})^3))$.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure. Cosmetic changes. To be published in Phys. Lett.

Two loop renormalization of the magnetic coupling and non-perturbative sector in hot QCD

The goal of this paper is two-fold. The first aim is to present a detailed version of the computation of the two-loop renormalization of the magnetic coupling in hot QCD. The second is to compare with lattice simulations the string tension of a spatial Wilson loop using the result of our two-loop computationComment: 32 page

Spatial 't Hooft loop to cubic order in hot QCD

Spatial 't Hooft loops of strength k measure the qualitative change in the behaviour of electric colour flux in confined and deconfined phase of SU (N) gauge theory. They show an area law in the deconfined phase, known analytica lly to two loop order with a ``k-scaling'' law k(N-k). In this paper we comput e the O(g^3) correction to the tension. It is due to neutral gluon fields that get their mass through interaction with the wall. The simple k-scaling is lost in cubic order. The generic problem of non-convexity shows up in this order an d the cure is provided. The result for large N is explicitely given. We show tha t nonperturbative effects appear at O(g^5).Comment: 22 pages. Apart from a discussion on the renormalization effect of the Polyakov loop to cubic order only cosmetic changes with respect to the earlier hep-ph/021229

Domain Walls and Metastable Vacua in Hot Orientifold Field Theories

We consider "Orientifold field theories", namely SU(N) gauge theories with Dirac fermions in the two-index representation at high temperature. When N is even these theories exhibit a spontaneously broken Z2 centre symmetry. We study aspects of the domain wall that interpolates between the two vacua of the theory. In particular we calculate its tension to two-loop order. We compare its tension to the corresponding domain wall in a SU(N) gauge theory with adjoint fermions and find an agreement at large-N, as expected from planar equivalence between the two theories. Moreover, we provide a non-perturbative proof for the coincidence of the tensions at large-N. We also discuss the vacuum structure of the theory when the fermion is given a large mass and argue that there exist N-2 metastable vacua. We calculate the lifetime of those vacua in the thin wall approximation.Comment: 29 pages, 4 figures. v2: minor changes in the introduction section. to appear in JHE

't Hooft and Wilson loop ratios in the QCD plasma

The spatial 't Hooft loop measuring the electric flux and the spatial Wilsonloop measuring the magnetic flux are analyzed in hot SU(N) gauge theory. Both display area laws. On one hand the tension of the 't Hooft loop is perturbatively calculable, in the same sense as the pressure. We show that the O(g^3) contribution is absent. The ratio of multi-charged 't Hooft loops have a remarkably simple dependence on the charge, true up to, but not including, O(g^4). This dependence follows also from a simple model of free screened colour charges. On the other hand the surface tension of the Wilsonloop is non-perturbative. But in a model of screened free monopoles at very high temperature the known area law follows. The density of these monopoles starts to contribute to O(g^6) to the pressure. The ratio of the multicharged Wilson loops is calculable and identical to that of the 't Hooft loops.Comment: 28 pages, 8 figure