Emergent inert adjoint scalar field in \(SU(2)\) Yang-Mills thermodynamics due to coarse-grained topological fluctuations (Q2396962)

Summary: We compute the phase and the modulus of an energy- and pressure-free, composite, adjoint, and inert field \(\phi\) in an \(SU(2)\) Yang-Mills theory at large temperatures. This field is physically relevant in describing part of the ground-state structure and the quasiparticle masses of excitations. The field \(\phi\) possesses nontrivial \(S^1\)-winding on the group manifold \(S^3\). Even at asymptotically high temperatures, where the theory reaches its Stefan-Boltzmann limit, the field \(\phi\), though strongly power suppressed, is conceptually relevant: its presence resolves the infrared problem of thermal perturbation theory.