Confinement in high-temperature lattice gauge theories

Abstract: There has been substantial progress in understanding a class of SU(N) gauge theories that are confining at high temperatures. This class includes theories with center-symmetric Polyakov loop deformations or with periodic adjoint fermions. The crucial role of monopoles in lattice gauge theories of this type can be understood analytically. The basic mechanisms occur in the two-dimensional O(3) spin model, deformed by appropriate mass term to give an XY model. Vortices of the XY model are constituents of O(3) instantons just as SU(N) magnetic monopoles are constituents of KvBLL instantons. Similar methods applied to an SU(2) lattice gauge theory yield an effective U(1) description in which monopoles are responsible for confinement.