Confining flux tubes in a current algebra approach.

Abstract

We describe flux tubes and their interactions in a low energy \ensuremath{\sigma} model induced by SU(${\mathit{N}}_{\mathit{f}}$)\ensuremath{\rightarrow}SO(${\mathit{N}}_{\mathit{f}}$) flavor symmetry breaking in SO(${\mathit{N}}_{\mathit{c}}$) QCD. Unlike standard QCD, this model allows gauge confinement to manifest itself in the low energy theory, which has unscreened spinor color sources and global ${\mathit{Z}}_{2}$ flux tubes. We construct the flux tubes and show how they mediate the confinement of spinor sources. We further examine the flux tubes' quantum stability, spectrum, and interactions. We find that flux tubes are Alice strings, despite ambiguities in defining parallel transport. Furthermore, twisted loops of flux tube support Skyrmion number, just as gauged Alice strings form loops that support monopole charge. This model, while phenomenologically unviable, thus affords a perspective on both the dynamics of confinement and on subtleties which arise for global Alice strings.