Conformal Anomaly in Yang-Mills Theory and Thermodynamics of Open Confining Strings

Abstract

We discuss thermodynamic properties of open confining strings introduced via static sources in the vacuum of Yang-Mills theory. We derive new sum rules for the chromoelectric and chromomagnetic condensates and use them to show that the presence of the confining string lowers the gluonic pressure in the bulk of the system. The pressure deficit of the gluon plasma is related to the potential energy in the system of heavy quarks and anti-quarks in the plasma.