Deconfinement, center symmetry and the ghost propagator in Landau gauge pure SU(3) Yang-Mills theory

The temperature dependence of the Landau gauge ghost propagator is investigated in pure SU(3) Yang-Mills theory with lattice QCD simulations. Its behavior around the confined-deconfined phase transition temperature, T_c ∼ 270 MeV, is investigated. The simulations show that in the deconfined phase, the ghost propagator is enhanced for small momenta, ≲ 1 GeV. Furthermore, the analysis of the spontaneous breaking of center symmetry on the ghost propagator is studied. Similarly as observed for the gluon propagator, the simulations result in a decoupling of the sectors where the phase of the Polyakov loop is either 0 or ±2π/3 sectors, with the latter remaining indistinguishable. The results point to the possible use of the ghost propagator as an “order parameter” for the confined-deconfined phase transition.