Multi-calorons and their moduli
Abstract
Description
Pure Yang-Mills instantons are considered on S^1 x R^3 -- so-called calorons. The holonomy -- or Polyakov loop around the thermal S^1 at spatial infinity -- is assumed to be a non-centre element of the gauge group SU(n) as most appropriate for QCD applications in the confined phase. It is shown that a charge k caloron can be seen as a collection of nk massive magnetic monopoles each carrying fractional topological charge. This interpretation offers a physically appealing way of introducing monopole degrees of freedom into pure gluodynamics: as constituents of finite temperature instantons. New and exact solutions are found along with the fermionic zero-modes of the Dirac operator. The properties of the zero-modes are analysed as well as the hyperkahler and twistor geometry of the caloron moduli space. Lattice gauge theoretic applications are also mentioned.
PhD thesis, 109 pages, 24 figures
PhD thesis, 109 pages, 24 figures