Isolating the confining color field in the SU(3) flux tube

Abstract: Using lattice Monte Carlo simulations of SU(3) pure gauge theory, we determine the spatial distribution of all components of the color fields created by a static quark and antiquark. We identify the components of the measured chromoelectric field transverse to the line connecting the quark-antiquark pair with the transverse components of an effective Coulomb-like field $\vec{E}^C $ associated with the quark sources. Subtracting $\vec{E}^C$ from the total simulated chromoelectric field $\vec{E}$ yields a non-perturbative, primarily longitudinal chromoelectric field $\vec{E}^{NP}$, which we identify as the confining field. This is the first time that the chromoelectric field has been separated into perturbative and nonperturbative components, creating a new tool to study the color field distribution between a quark and an antiquark, and thus the long distance force between them.