Unveiling SU(3) flux tubes at nonzero temperature: electric fields and magnetic currents

Abstract

We report on the results of measuring the chromoelectric fields in a flux tube created by a static quark-antiquark pair in finite-temperature SU(3) gauge theory. Below the deconfinement temperature the field behavior is similar to the zero-temperature case. Above the deconfinement temperature the field shape remains the same, but the field values drop when the distance between the quark and antiquark increases, thus showing the disappearance of the confining potential.