L. Deldebbio et al., CENTER DOMINANCE AND Z(2) VORTICES IN SU(2) LATTICE GAUGE-THEORY, Physical review. D. Particles and fields, 55(4), 1997, pp. 2298-2306
We find, in close analogy to Abelian dominance in the maximal Abelian
gauge, the phenomenon of center dominance in the maximal center gauge
for SU(2) lattice gauge theory. The maximal center gauge is a gauge-fi
xing condition that preserves a residual Z(2) gauge symmetry; ''center
projection'' is the projection of SU(2) link variables onto Z(2) cent
er elements, and ''center dominance'' is the fact that;the center-proj
ected link elements carry most of the information about the string ten
sion of the full theory. We present numerical evidence that the thin Z
(2) vortices Of the projected configurations are associated with ''thi
ck'' Z(2) vortices in the unprojected configurations. The evidence als
o suggests that the thick Z(2) vortices may play a significant role in
the confinement process.