In this paper we begin on a new lattice formulation of the non-linear change of variables called the Cho-Faddeev-Niemi decomposition in SU(2) Yang-Mills theory. This is a compact lattice formulation improving the non-compact lattice formulation proposed in our previous paper. Based on this formulation, we propose a new gauge-invariant definition of the magnetic monopole current which guarantees the magnetic charge quantization and reproduces the conventional magnetic-current density obtained in the Abelian projection based on the DeGrand-Toussaint method. Finally, we demonstrate the magnetic monopole dominance in the string tension in SU(2) Yang-Mills theory on a lattice. Our formulation enables one to reproduce in the gauge-invariant way remarkable results obtained so far only in the Maximally Abelian gauge.

We present the first implementation of the Cho-Faddeev-Niemi decomposition of the SU(2) Yang-Mills field on a lattice. Our construction retains the color symmetry (global SU(2) gauge invariance) even after a new type of Maximally Abelian gauge, as explicitly demonstrated by numerical simulations. Moreover, we propose a gauge-invariant definition of the magnetic monopole current using this formulation and compare the new definition with the conventional one by DeGrand and Toussaint to exhibit its validity.

The purpose of this paper is to review the recent progress in understanding quark confinement. The emphasis of this review is placed on how to obtain a manifestly gauge-independent picture for quark confinement supporting the dual superconductivity in the Yang-Mills theory, which should be compared with the Abelian projection proposed by 't Hooft. The basic tools are novel reformulations of the YangMills theory based on change of variables extending the decomposition of the SU(N) Yang-Mills field due to Cho, Duan-Ge and Faddeev-Niemi, together with the combined use of extended versions of the Diakonov-Petrov version of the non-Abelian Stokes theorem for the SU(N) Wilson loop operator.Moreover, we give the lattice gauge theoretical versions of the reformulation of the Yang-Mills theory which enables us to perform the numerical simulations on the lattice. In fact, we present some numerical evidences for supporting the dual superconductivity for quark confinement. The numerical simulations include the derivation of the linear potential for static interquark potential, i.e., non-vanishing string tension, in which the "Abelian" dominance and magnetic monopole dominance are established, confirmation of the dual Meissner effect by measuring the chromoelectric flux tube between quark-antiquark pair, the induced magnetic-monopole current, and the type of dual superconductivity, etc. In addition, we give a direct connection between the topological configuration of the Yang-Mills field such as instantons/merons and the magnetic monopole.We show especially that magnetic monopoles in the Yang-Mills theory can be constructed in a manifestly gauge-invariant way starting from the gauge-invariant Wilson loop operator and thereby the contribution from the magnetic monopoles can be extracted from the Wilson loop in a gauge-invariant way through the non-Abelian Stokes theorem for the Wilson loop operator, which is a prerequisite for exhibiting magnetic monopole dominance for quark confinement. The Wilson loop average is calculated according to the new reformulation written in terms of new field variables obtained from the original Yang-Mills field based on change of variables. The Maximally Abelian gauge in the original Yang-Mills theory is also reproduced by taking a specific gauge fixing in the reformulated Yang-Mills theory. This observation justifies the preceding results obtained in the maximal Abelian gauge at least for gaugeinvariant quantities for SU(2) gauge group, which eliminates the criticism of gauge artifact raised for the Abelian projection. The claim has been confirmed based on the numerical simulations.However, for SU(N) (N ≥ 3), such a gauge-invariant reformulation is not unique, although the extension along the line proposed by Cho, Faddeev and Niemi is possible. In fact, we have found that there are a number of possible options of the reformulations, which are discriminated by the maximal stability 1 groupH of G, while there is a unique option ofH = U(1) for G = SU(2). The maximal stability group depends...

We give a theoretical framework for defining and extracting non-Abelian magnetic monopoles in a gauge-invariant way in SU(N) Yang-Mills theory to study quark confinement. Then we give numerical evidences that the non-Abelian magnetic monopole defined in this way gives a dominant contribution to confinement of fundamental quarks in SU(3) Yang-Mills theory, which is in sharp contrast to the SU(2) case in which Abelian magnetic monopoles play the dominant role for quark confinement.

We study various representations of infrared effective theory of SU͑2͒ gluodynamics as a ͑quantum͒ perfect lattice action. In particular we derive a monopole action and a string model of hadrons from SU͑2͒ gluodynamics. These are lattice actions which give almost cutoff independent physical quantities even on coarse lattices. The monopole action is determined by numerical simulations in the infrared region of SU͑2͒ gluodynamics. The string model of hadrons is derived from the monopole action by using BKT transformation. We illustrate the method and evaluate physical quantities such as the string tension and the mass of the lowest state of the glueball analytically using the string model of hadrons. It turns out that the classical results in the string model are near to the one in quantum SU͑2͒ gluodynamics.