Casimir Effect in Yang-Mills Theory in D=2+1

• Published in: Physical review letters Vol. 121; no. 19; p. 191601
• Main Authors: Chernodub, M N, Goy, V A, Molochkov, A V, Nguyen, Ha Huu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Physical Society 09-11-2018
• Subjects: Computer simulation; Conductors; Crossovers; First principles; Gauge theory; Yang-Mills theory
• ISSN: 0031-9007; 1079-7114
• DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.191601

We study, for the first time, the Casimir effect in non-Abelian gauge theory using first-principles numerical simulations. Working in two spatial dimensions at zero temperature, we find that closely spaced perfect chromoelectric conductors attract each other with a small anomalous scaling dimension. At large separation between the conductors, the attraction is exponentially suppressed by a new massive quantity, the Casimir mass, which is surprisingly different from the lowest glueball mass. The apparent emergence of the new massive scale may be a result of the backreaction of the vacuum to the presence of the plates as sufficiently close chromoelectric conductors induce, in a space between them, a smooth crossover transition to a color deconfinement phase.