Abstract
The confining and topological properties of the compact Abelian Higgs model with doubly-charged Higgs field in three space-time dimensions are studied. We consider the London limit of the model. We show that the monopoles are forming chainlike structures (kept together by Abrikosov-Nielsen-Olesen vortices), the presence of which is essential for getting simultaneously permanent confinement of singly-charged particles and breaking of the string spanned between doubly-charged particles. In the confinement phase, the chains are forming percolating clusters, while in the deconfinement (Higgs) phase, the chains are of finite size. The described picture is in close analogy with the synthesis of the Abelian monopole and the center vortex pictures in confining non-Abelian gauge models. The screening properties of the vacuum are studied by means of the photon propagator in the Landau gauge.
12 More- Received 18 February 2005
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.71.074502
©2005 American Physical Society