https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-019-6978-y
Letter
Isolating the confining color field in the SU(3) flux tube
1
Department of Physics, University of Washington, WA, 98105, Seattle, USA
2
INFN - Sezione di Bari, 70126, Bari, Italy
3
INFN - Gruppo collegato di Cosenza, Arcavacata di Rende, 87036, Cosenza, Italy
4
Institut für Theoretische Physik, Goethe Universität, 60438, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
5
Dipartimento di Fisica dell’Università della Calabria, Arcavacata di Rende, 87036, Cosenza, Italy
* e-mail: cuteri@th.physik.uni-frankfurt.de
Received:
22
February
2019
Accepted:
23
May
2019
Published online:
5
June
2019
Using lattice Monte Carlo simulations of SU(3) pure gauge theory, we determine the spatial distribution of all components of the color fields created by a static quark and antiquark. We identify the components of the measured chromoelectric field transverse to the line connecting the quark–antiquark pair with the transverse components of an effective Coulomb-like field 
associated with the quark sources. Subtracting 
from the total simulated chromoelectric field 
yields a non-perturbative, primarily longitudinal chromoelectric field 
, which we identify as the confining field. This is the first time that the chromoelectric field has been separated into perturbative and nonperturbative components, creating a new tool to study the color field distribution between a quark and an antiquark, and thus the long distance force between them.
© The Author(s), 2019
