Chromoelectric flux tubes in QCD

Abstract

We analyze the distribution of the chromoelectric field generated by a static quark-antiquark pair in the SU(3) vacuum and revisit previous results for SU(2). We find that the transverse profile of the flux tube resembles the dual version of the Abrikosov vortex field distribution. We give an estimate of the London penetration length of the chromoelectric field in the confined vacuum. We also speculate on the value of the ratio between the penetration lengths for SU(2) and SU(3) gauge theories.