{"paper":{"title":"Universal Confining Strings: From Compact QED to the Hadron Spectrum","license":"http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/","headline":"Compact QED with a theta term yields massive two-form strings whose infrared fixed point matches heavy quarkonium mass ratios to within 2.5 percent of experiment.","cross_cats":["hep-lat","hep-ph"],"primary_cat":"hep-th","authors_text":"C.A. Trugenberger, F. Quevedo, L. Zapata, M.C. Diamantini","submitted_at":"2026-05-13T17:11:29Z","abstract_excerpt":"We investigate the description of quark confinement in terms of confining strings or flux tubes. We show that compact QED with a topological $\\theta$-term, in the dyon condensation phase, is described by a massive two-form field $B_{\\mu \\nu}$ that gives rise to a string theory with an IR Brazovskii-Lifshitz fixed point at strong coupling. This corresponds to a quantum consistent \"free string\" in (3+1) dimensions, representing the dual of asymptotic freedom in the UV. Contrary to critical strings, which correspond to trivial Gaussian fixed points, this string is stabilized by a finite thickness"},"claims":{"count":4,"items":[{"kind":"strongest_claim","text":"We compute the mass difference ratios for the heaviest quarkonium and find 2.5 percent agreement with experiment already at the infrared fixed point.","source":"verdict.strongest_claim","status":"machine_extracted","claim_id":"C1","attestation":"unclaimed"},{"kind":"weakest_assumption","text":"That the dyon condensation phase of compact QED with a topological theta term is accurately captured by a massive two-form field B_mu nu that produces a consistent Brazovskii-Lifshitz string theory in 3+1 dimensions.","source":"verdict.weakest_assumption","status":"machine_extracted","claim_id":"C2","attestation":"unclaimed"},{"kind":"one_line_summary","text":"Compact QED in the dyon phase maps to a massive two-form field whose IR fixed-point string theory reproduces a generalized Arvis potential and matches heaviest quarkonium mass ratios to 2.5 percent while raising the Regge intercept above the Nambu-Goto value.","source":"verdict.one_line_summary","status":"machine_extracted","claim_id":"C3","attestation":"unclaimed"},{"kind":"headline","text":"Compact QED with a theta term yields massive two-form strings whose infrared fixed point matches heavy quarkonium mass ratios to within 2.5 percent of experiment.","source":"verdict.pith_extraction.headline","status":"machine_extracted","claim_id":"C4","attestation":"unclaimed"}],"snapshot_sha256":"8f7fad015c08e79a43d3652aff93ef766335785ca415b28834ed34b31005f9e5"},"source":{"id":"2605.13791","kind":"arxiv","version":1},"verdict":{"id":"902aa6d2-d7cd-47e2-82c3-c8441df0cc79","model_set":{"reader":"grok-4.3"},"created_at":"2026-05-14T17:41:34.161332Z","strongest_claim":"We compute the mass difference ratios for the heaviest quarkonium and find 2.5 percent agreement with experiment already at the infrared fixed point.","one_line_summary":"Compact QED in the dyon phase maps to a massive two-form field whose IR fixed-point string theory reproduces a generalized Arvis potential and matches heaviest quarkonium mass ratios to 2.5 percent while raising the Regge intercept above the Nambu-Goto value.","pipeline_version":"pith-pipeline@v0.9.0","weakest_assumption":"That the dyon condensation phase of compact QED with a topological theta term is accurately captured by a massive two-form field B_mu nu that produces a consistent Brazovskii-Lifshitz string theory in 3+1 dimensions.","pith_extraction_headline":"Compact QED with a theta term yields massive two-form strings whose infrared fixed point matches heavy quarkonium mass ratios to within 2.5 percent of experiment."},"references":{"count":40,"sample":[{"doi":"10.1007/978-3-642-14382-3","year":2011,"title":"An introduction to the confinement problem,","work_id":"63a542e2-af7d-46d9-b87d-25c255b57a93","ref_index":1,"cited_arxiv_id":"","is_internal_anchor":false},{"doi":"10.1140/epjc/s10052-023-11949-2","year":2023,"title":"Gross, et al., 50 Years of Quantum Chromodynamics, Eur","work_id":"88edfdf4-1f20-439c-8a6f-a7c4bfdf4b45","ref_index":2,"cited_arxiv_id":"","is_internal_anchor":false},{"doi":"","year":1978,"title":"Phys.B1381-25 (1978)","work_id":"868e73e9-fa75-466d-be1a-5985aaa53d2d","ref_index":3,"cited_arxiv_id":"","is_internal_anchor":false},{"doi":"","year":1996,"title":"M. C. Diamantini, P. Sodano, C. A. Trugenberger, Gauge theories of Josephson junction arrays.Nuclear PhysicsfB474, 641-677 (1996)","work_id":"ca41bd48-60bc-4729-8180-0a4f5f903696","ref_index":4,"cited_arxiv_id":"","is_internal_anchor":false},{"doi":"","year":2018,"title":"M. C. Diamantini, C. A. Trugenberger, V. M. Vinokur, Confinement and asymptotic freedom with Cooper pairs.Comm. Phys.1, 77 (2018)","work_id":"92e56d05-4a6e-4a4d-b09b-9474fa3fbca7","ref_index":5,"cited_arxiv_id":"","is_internal_anchor":false}],"resolved_work":40,"snapshot_sha256":"d7d8c647322974218c96d3e07b63c7be39f06a9aed851486cfd8ec344a2cd9fd","internal_anchors":1},"formal_canon":{"evidence_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"author_claims":{"count":0,"strong_count":0,"snapshot_sha256":"258153158e38e3291e3d48162225fcdb2d5a3ed65a07baac614ab91432fd4f57"},"builder_version":"pith-number-builder-2026-05-17-v1"}