Magnetic Monopoles and the Topology of Gauge Fields
arXiv:hep-th/9808008 · doi:10.1016/S0920-5632(99)00197-8
Abstract
Lattice calculations performed in Abelian gauges give strong evidence that confinement is realized as a dual Meissner effect, implying that the Yang--Mills vacuum consists of a condensate of magnetic monopoles. We show in Polyakov gauge how the Pontrjagin index of the gauge field is related to the magnetic monopole charges.
4 pages, uses unicrc.sty and bbm.sty (included). Talk presented at the Int. Conf. QCD--98, Montpellier, July 1998