Splitting The Gluon?

Abstract

In the strongly correlated environment of high-temperature cuprate superconductors, the spin and charge degrees of freedom of an electron seem to separate from each other. A similar phenomenon may be present in the strong coupling phase of Yang-Mills theories, where a separation between the color charge and the spin of a gluon could play a role in a mass gap formation. Here we study the phase structure of a decomposed SU(2) Yang-Mills theory in a mean field approximation, by inspecting quantum fluctuations in the condensate which is formed by the color charge component of the gluon field. Our results suggest that the decomposed theory has an involved phase structure. In particular, there appears to be a phase which is quite reminiscent of the superconducting phase in cuprates. We also find evidence that this phase is separated from the asymptotically free theory by an intermediate pseudogap phase.

Improved discussion of magnetic nature of phases; removed unsubstantiated speculation about color confinement

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• Domain walls and gauge field localization in strongly-coupled pure Yang-Mills theories
• Spin-charge separation for the SU(3) gauge theory
• From the Fourth Color to Spin-charge Separation - Neutrinos and Spinons
• On Lorentz Invariance, Spin-Charge Separation And SU(2) Yang-Mills Theory
• Spin-charge separation for paired Dirac fermions in $(1+1)$ dimensions