A property of electric and magnetic flux in non-abelian gauge theories

Abstract

Pure non-Abelian gauge models with gauge group SU(N) are considered in a box with periodic boundary conditions at various temperatures −1. Electric and magnetic flux are defined in a gauge-invariant way. The free energy of the system satisfies an exact duality equation, following from Euclidean invariance. The equation relates properties of the electric and the magnetic fields. Conclusions that can be drawn for instance are that for N 3 one cannot have both electric and magnetic confinement, and that the infrared structure of the Georgi-Glashow model is self-dual.