Gap stability for center-stabilized SU(3) Yang-Mills via topological quantum order and the BHM theorem
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: We prove that center-stabilized SU(N_c) Yang-Mills theory on R³×S¹ has a positive mass gap for all compactification radii. The Bravyi-Hastings-Michalakis (BHM) gap stability theorem is extended to gauge-invariant Hilbert spaces using the exact local topological quantum order (LTQO) provided by the Z_{N_c} center symmetry. For pure SU(3) Yang-Mills, the double-trace deformation decouples exponentially at large R, yielding a conditional mass gap for R > R_BHM ≈ 12/Λ_QCD. Companion paper to the SFST framework (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19177245). Code: https://github.com/SFST-2026/Yang-Mills
Author: Le Borgne, Martin Wolfgang
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7148867696