Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Although Yang--Mills theories at $θ$ and $θ+2π$ are physically equivalent, their periodicity is realized nontrivially in the presence of a background field for the $1$-form center symmetry. The confining vacua at $θ=0$ and $2π$ are therefore expected to have distinct symmetry-protected topological labels. We test this expectation in $SU(2)$ lattice Yang--Mills theory by measuring 't~Hooft and dyonic Wilson--'t~Hooft loops at $θ=2π$. A $1$-form-covariant DBW2 flow makes the global reweighting factor numerically benign while retaining the physical non-integer topological charge in a defect ensemble. The dyonic loop exhibits a clear perimeter-law plateau on two lattice volumes. The direct 't~Hooft-loop signal is noise-limited but has the magnitude and distance dependence expected for an area law. Taken together with the Wilson--'t~Hooft classification, these results provide numerical evidence for the dyonic oblique-confinement pattern at $θ=2π$. This talk is based on our recent paper (arXiv:2606.13428).
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G7872394661, G8980801056
OpenAlex ID: W7223338095