Deconfinement transition at weak coupling in Yang-Mills theory on a torus

We describe a weak coupling realization of the deconfinement transition in gauge theory compactified on $R^3\times S^1$. We consider Yang-Mills theory with a single Weyl fermion of mass $m$ in the adjoint representation of the gauge group. The fermion is subject to periodic boundary conditions, $λ(0)=λ(L)$, where $L$ is the size of the circle $S_1$. This theory reduces to thermal Yang-Mills theory in the limit $m\to\infty$. In the limit $m\to 0$ the deconfinement transition can be studied using weak coupling methods. The analysis is based on semi-classical objects characterized by topological and magnetic charges. At leading order the relevant configurations are monopole-instantons and monopole-anti-monopole pairs ("bions"). We argue that in the $m-L$ plane the weak coupling transition is continuously connected to the deconfinement transition in pure gauge theory.

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