Permanent confinement in the compact QED3 with fermionic matter

Abstract

We argue that the compact three dimensional electrodynamics with massless fermions is always confining, in spite of the bare interaction between the magnetic monopoles being rendered logarithmic by fermions. The effect is caused by screening by other dipoles, which transforms the logarithmic back into the Coulomb interaction at large distances. Possible implications for the chiral symmetry breaking for fermions are discussed, and the global phase diagram of the theory is proposed.