SO(N) gauge theories in 2+1 dimensions: glueball spectra and confinement

Abstract

We calculate the spectrum of light glueballs and the string tension in a number of SO(N) lattice gauge theories in 2+1 dimensions, with N in the range from N=3 to N=16. After extrapolating to the continuum limit and then to N=oo we compare to the spectrum and string tension of the SU(N=oo) gauge theory and find that the most reliably and precisely calculated physical quantities are consistent in that limit. We also compare the glueball spectra of those pairs of SO(N) and SU(N') theories that possess the same Lie algebra, i.e. SO(3) and SU(2), SO(4) and SU(2)xSU(2), SO(6) and SU(4), and find that for the very lightest glueballs the spectra are consistent within each such pair, as are the string tensions and the couplings. Where there are apparent discrepancies they are typically for heavier glueballs, where the systematic errors are much harder to control. We calculate the SO(N) string tensions with a particular focus on the confining properties of SO(2N+1) theories which, unlike SO(2N) theories, possess a trivial centre. We find that for both the light glueballs and for the string tension SO(2N) and SO(2N+1) gauge theories appear to form a single smooth sequence.

99 pages, 32 figures, new SO6 calculations, others revised; more on confinement; mass estimates graded for reliability

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Cited by in corpus (14)

• Sp(4) gauge theory on the lattice: towards SU(4)/Sp(4) composite Higgs (and beyond)
• Color dependence of tensor and scalar glueball masses in Yang-Mills theories
• Lattice studies of the $Sp(4)$ gauge theory with two fundamental and three antisymmetric Dirac fermions
• Glueballs and Strings in $Sp(2N)$ Yang-Mills theories
• Holographic glueballs from the circle reduction of Romans supergravity
• Color dependence of the topological susceptibility in Yang-Mills theories
• $Sp(2N)$ Yang-Mills theories on the lattice: scale setting and topology
• On the spectrum and string tension of U(1) lattice gauge theory in 2+1 dimensions
• Probing the holographic dilaton
• Dark Horse, Dark Matter: Revisiting the SO(16)x SO(16)' Nonsupersymmetric Model in the LHC and Dark Energy Era
• Continuous transition between Ising magnetic order and a chiral spin liquid
• SO(4), SO(3) and SU(2) gauge theories in 2+1 dimensions: comparing glueball spectra and string tensions
• Pfaffian particles and strings in SO(2N) gauge theories
• Spinorial flux tubes in SO(N) gauge theories in 2+1 dimensions