Center Vortices and Monopoles without lattice Gribov copies

Abstract

We construct a smooth gauge for the adjoint field which is free of ambiguities on the lattice. In this Laplacian Center Gauge, center vortices and monopoles appear together as local gauge defects. A numerical study of center vortices in SU(2) and SU(3) supports equality of the $Z_N$ and SU(N) string tensions in the continuum limit, and only then.

Comments: Final version to appear in Nucl. Phys. B. Note added for comparison with recent results on Gribov copies in Max. Center Gauge. Interpolation of Laplacian eigenvectors (instead of center projection) considered. References added. 21 pages, 7 figures