Confinement and center vortex dynamics in different gauge groups

The random vortex world‐surface model is extended to the gauge groups SU(4) and Sp(2). Compared to the SU(2) and SU(3) models studied previously, which reproduce the infrared properties of the corresponding Yang‐Mills theories on the basis of a simple vortex world‐surface curvature action, new dynamical characteristics become important. In the SU(4) case, an explicit dependence of the vortex effective action on the configuration of the Abelian magnetic monopoles residing on the vortices emerges; in the Sp(2) case, a new “stickiness” contribution to the vortex action serves to drive the deconfinement phase transition towards the correct first‐order behavior.