CONFINEMENT IN COMPACT QED FOR LOW COUPLINGS

A comparison is made between several models of lattice QED, in 2 + 1 dimensions, which have been shown to exhibit confinement for small couplings. We also compare two different approaches which have been employed to study this phenomenon: the variational and path-integral methods. The reasons for differences in the results are explored. The importance of compactness for low-coupling confinement is demonstrated. © 1979 The American Physical Society.