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Phases of Gauge Theories

One of the most fundamental questions we can ask about a given gauge theory is its phase diagram. In the standard model, we observe three fundamentally different types of behavior: QCD is in a confined phase at zero temperature, while the electroweak sector of the standard model combines Coulomb and Higgs phases. Our current understanding of the phase structure of gauge theories owes much to the modern theory of phase transitions and critical phenomena, but has developed into a subject of extensive study. After reviewing some fundamental concepts of phase transitions and finite-temperature gauge theories, we discuss some recent work that broadly extends our knowledge of the mechanisms that determine the phase structure of gauge theories. A new class of models with a rich phase structure has been discovered, generalizing our understanding of the confinement-deconfinement transition in finite-temperature gauge theories. Models in this class have space-time topologies with one or more compact directions. On R^3 x S^1, the addition of double-trace deformations or periodic adjoint fermions to a gauge theory can yield a confined phase in the region where the S^1 circumference L is small, so that the coupling constant is small, and semiclassical methods are applicable. In this region, Euclidean monopole solutions, which are constituents of finite-temperature instantons, play a crucial role in the calculation of a non-perturbative string tension. We review the techniques use to analyze this new class of models and the results obtained so far, as well as their application to finite-temperature phase structure, conformal phases of gauge theories and the large-N limit.