Analytical relation between quark confinement and chiral symmetry breaking in odd-number lattice QCD

To clarify the relation between confinement and chiral symmetry breaking in QCD, we consider a temporally odd-number lattice, with the temporal lattice size $N_t$ being odd. We here use an ordinary square lattice with the normal (nontwisted) periodic boundary condition for link-variables in the temporal direction. By considering ${\rm Tr} (\hat{U}_4\hat{\not D}^{N_t-1})$, we analytically derive a gauge-invariant relation between the Polyakov loop $\langle L_P \rangle$ and the Dirac eigenvalues $λ_n$ in QCD, i.e., $\langle L_P \rangle \propto \sum_n λ_n^{N_t -1} \langle n|\hat U_4|n \rangle$, which is a Dirac spectral representation of the Polyakov loop in terms of Dirac eigenmodes $|n\rangle$. Owing to the factor $λ_n^{N_t -1}$ in the Dirac spectral sum, this relation generally indicates fairly small contribution of low-lying Dirac modes to the Polyakov loop, while the low-lying Dirac modes are essential for chiral symmetry breaking. Also in lattice QCD calculations in both confined and deconfined phases, we numerically confirm the analytical relation, non-zero finiteness of $\langle n|\hat U_4|n \rangle$ for each Dirac mode, and negligibly small contribution from low-lying Dirac modes to the Polyakov loop, i.e., the Polyakov loop is almost unchanged even by removing low-lying Dirac-mode contribution from the QCD vacuum generated by lattice QCD simulations. We thus conclude that low-lying Dirac modes are not essential modes for confinement, which indicates no direct one-to-one correspondence between confinement and chiral symmetry breaking in QCD.

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