Anomaly Inflow and Membranes in QCD Vacuum

Abstract

We study the membrane-like structure of topological charge density and its fluctuations in the QCD vacuum. Quark zero modes are localized on the membranes and the resultant gauge anomaly is cancelled by the gauge variation of a Chern-Simons type effective action in the bulk via the anomaly inflow mechanism. The coupling between brane fluctuations, described by the rotations of its normal vector, and the Chern-Simons current provides the needed anomaly inflow to the membrane. This coupling is also related to the axial U(1) anomaly which can induce brane punctures, and consequently quark-antiquark annihilation across the brane. As the Chern-Simons current has a long-range character, together with membranes it might lead to a solution to the confinement problem.