Effective Z(2) spin models of deconfinement and percolation in SU(2) gauge theory

Effective theories are helpful tools to gain an intuitive insight into phenomena governed by complex laws. In this work we show by means of Monte Carlo simulations that Z(2) spin models with only spin–spin interactions approximate rather well the critical behavior of SU(2) gauge theory at finite temperature. These models are then used to formulate an effective description of Polyakov loop percolation, which is shown to reproduce the thermal critical behaviour of SU(2) gauge theory.