First Evidence for Center Dominance in SU(3) Lattice Gauge Theory

The dominance of center degrees of freedom is observed in SU(3) lattice gauge theory in maximal center gauge. The full asymptotic string tension is reproduced, after center projection, by the center elements alone. When center vortices are removed from lattice configurations, the string tension tends to zero. This provides further evidence for the role played by center vortices in the mechanism of color confinement in quantum chromodynamics, but more extensive simulations with a better gauge-fixing procedure are still needed.