23–28 Jun 2014
Columbia University
US/Eastern timezone

van Baal's legacy: From renormalons to bions

26 Jun 2014, 15:55
20m
415 Schapiro

415 Schapiro

Talk Vacuum Structure and Confinement Vacuum Structure and Confinement

Speaker

Mithat Unsal (North Carolina State University)

Description

This talk presents a summary of our current understanding of confinement problem in non-abelian gauge theories. It is dedicated to the memory of Pierre van Baal, who contributed to the field significantly. I will review recent semi-classically calculable realization of confinement in various gauge theories. In particular, I will describe the role of monopole-instantons(realized by van Baal), and their role in neutral and magnetic bions, and the relation of these semi-classical saddles to 't Hooft's elusive renormalon problem. The techniques I describe uses resurgence theory, and related Lefschetz thimble (homology cycle) decomposition of path integrals.

Primary author

Mithat Unsal (North Carolina State University)

Presentation materials