PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

We construct and study a dimensionally reduced effective theory forhigh-temperature SU(2) Yang-Mills theory that respects all the symmetries ofthe underlying theory. Our main motivation is to study, whether the correcttreatment of the center symmetry can help extend the applicability of thedimensional reduction procedure towards the confinement transition. Afterperforming perturbative matching to the full theory at asymptotically hightemperatures, we map the phase diagram of the effective theory usingnon-perturbative lattice simulations. We find that at lower temperature thetheory undergoes a second order confining phase transition, in complete analogywith the full theory, which is a direct consequence of having incorporated thecenter symmetry.