Random percolation as a gauge theory Original Research Article

Three-dimensional bond or site percolation theory on a lattice can be interpreted as a gauge theory in which the Wilson loops are viewed as counters of topological linking with random clusters. Beyond the percolation threshold large Wilson loops decay with an area law and show the universal shape effects due to flux tube quantum fluctuations like in ordinary confining gauge theories. Wilson loop correlators define a non-trivial spectrum of physical states of increasing mass and spin, like the glueballs of ordinary gauge theory. The crumbling of the percolating cluster when the length of one periodic direction decreases below a critical threshold accounts for the finite temperature deconfinement, which belongs to 2D percolation universality class.