Monopole action and monopole condensation in SU(3) lattice QCD

Effective monopole actions for various extended monopoles are derived from vacuum configurations after abelian projection in the maximally abelian gauge in T = 0 and T not equal 0 SU(3) lattice QCD. The actions obtained appear to be independent of the lattice volume adopted. At zero temperature, monopole condensation is seen to occur from energy-entropy balance in the strong coupling region. Larger beta is included in the monopole condensed phase as more extended monopoles are considered. The scaling seen in the SU(2) case is not yet observed. The renormalization flow diagram suggests the existence of an infrared fixed point. A hysteresis behavior is seen around the critical temperature in the case of the T not equal 0 action. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.