ON THE TRANSITION FROM CONFINEMENT TO SCREENING IN QCD(1-N(1) COUPLEDTO ADJOINT FERMIONS AT FINITE)

We consider SU(N) QCD(1+1) coupled to massless adjoint Majorana fermio ns, where N is finite but arbitrary. We examine the spectrum for vario us values of N, paying particular attention to the formation of multi- particle states, which were recently identified by Gross, Hashimoto an d Klebanov in the N = infinity limit of the theory. it is believed tha t in the limit of vanishing fermion mass, there is a transition from c onfinement to screening in which string-like states made out of adjoin t fermion bits dissociate into stable constituent ''single particles'' . In this work, we provide numerical evidence that such a transition i nto stable constituent particles occurs not only at large N, but for a ny finite value of N. In addition, we discuss certain issues concernin g the ''topological'' properties exhibited by the DLCQ spectrum. (C) 1 998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.