Abstract
In this work we investigate the effect of an external magnetic field B on the shape of flux tubes in QCD by means of lattice simulations, performed with N_f=2+1 flavors of stout improved dynamical staggered quarks with physical masses. After having discussed some difficulties in the practical definition of the flux tube at B=0, we show that these ambiguities do not affect the determination of the flux tube modifications induced by the magnetic field. Different results are obtained depending on the relative orientations of the flux tube and of the magnetic field: they confirm that the magnetic field acts as transverse confinement catalyser and longitudinal confinement inhibitor; moreover, the flux tube itself loses its axial symmetry when it is not directed along the magnetic background.
Highlights
Despite the fact that a formal proof of color confinement in quantum chromodynamics (QCD) is still lacking, Lattice QCD simulations provided an overwhelming amount of numerical evidence that color confinement is encoded in the QCD Lagrangian
In order to investigate the profile of the flux tube we measured the longitudinal component of the chromoelectric field El, since all previous studies showed this component of the field strength to be the dominant one
Important for our purpose is the breaking of the rotation symmetry: the details of the flux tube profile will depend on the relative orientations of the magnetic field, the Wilson loop and the transverse direction chosen to probe the chromoelectric field
Summary
Despite the fact that a formal proof of color confinement in quantum chromodynamics (QCD) is still lacking, Lattice QCD simulations provided an overwhelming amount of numerical evidence that color confinement is encoded in the QCD Lagrangian Important in this respect was the observation [1,2,3,4,5,6,7] that the field generated by two opposite static color sources is not a dipole field like in quantum electrodynamics: most of the field energy density is concentrated in a linear structure that connects the two static sources.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
