Speaker
Description
We propose a novel approach to directly simulate the 't Hooft partition function and revisit the (de)confining phase structure of an $SU(N)$ gauge theory with the $\mathbb{Z}_N$ $1$-form symmetry. We develop a hybrid Monte Carlo algorithm (the halfway HMC) for the $SU(N)/\mathbb{Z}_N$ gauge theory. The usual partition function $\mathcal{Z}[B]$ with 't Hooft flux $B$ can be numerically computed by it. By regarding spatial-temporal components of $B$ as electric fluxes $E$, the 't Hooft partition function $\mathcal{Z}_{\text{tH}}[E;B]$ detects the quantum phase of the system. The numerical result shows that non-electric fluxes are light in the confining phase, while at finite temperature a nontrivial finite-size scaling and deconfining of $\mathcal{Z}_{\text{tH}}[E;B]$ can be observed. The Witten effect also indicates the oblique confinement at $\theta=2\pi$.
| Parallel Session (for talks only) | Vacuum structure and confinement |
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