The deconfining phase transition of SO(N) gauge theories in 2+1 dimensions

Abstract

We calculate the deconfining temperature of SO(N) gauge theories in 2+1 dimensions, and determine the order of the phase transition as a function of N, for various values of N in the range [4,16]. We do so by extrapolating our lattice results to the infinite volume limit, and then to the continuum limit, for each value of N. We then extrapolate to the N=infinity limit and observe that the SO(N) and SU(N) deconfining temperatures agree in that limit. We find that the the deconfining temperatures of all the SO(N) gauge theories appear to follow a single smooth function of N, despite the lack of a non-trivial centre for odd N. We also compare the deconfining temperatures of SO(6) with SU(4), and of SO(4) with SU(2)xSU(2), motivated by the fact that these pairs of gauge theories share the same Lie algebras.

52 pages, 20 figures. Some introductory material removed. Improved discussion of odd N, the centre and confinement

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Cited by in corpus (5)

• SO(N) gauge theories in 2+1 dimensions: glueball spectra and confinement
• Confining strings in three-dimensional gauge theories beyond the Nambu--Gotō approximation
• Weak universality induced by $Q=\pm 2e$ charges at the deconfinement transition of a (2+1)-d $U(1)$ lattice gauge theory
• Pfaffian particles and strings in SO(2N) gauge theories
• Spinorial flux tubes in SO(N) gauge theories in 2+1 dimensions