INTERACTION OF CONFINING VORTICES IN SU(2) LATTICE GAUGE-THEORY

Center projection of SU(2) lattice gauge theory allows to isolate magn etic vortices as confining configurations. The vortex density scales a ccording to the renormalization group, implying that the vortices are physical objects rather than lattice artefacts. Here, the binary corre lations between points at which vortices pierce a given plane are inve stigated. We find an attractive interaction between the vortices. The correlations show the correct scaling behavior and are therefore physi cal. The range of the interaction is found to be (0.4 +/- 0.2) fm, whi ch should be compared with the average planar vortex density of approx imately 2 vortices/fm(2). We comment on the implications of these resu lts for recent discussions of the Casimir scaling behavior of higher d imensional representation Wilson loops in the vortex confinement pictu re. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.