FLUX TUBE PROFILES WITH DYNAMIC QUARKS AND FINITE TEMPERATURES

We analyze gluon string distributions in a static meson with dynamical quarks in the confinement and deconfinement regimes. We demonstrate flux tube breaking when sea quarks are considered or the temperature is increased beyond the deconfinement phase transition. The dependence of the string width on the meson elongation is explored for various QCD vacua. It turns out that the energy density is restricted to a thin flux tube of constant diameter in the confinement phase and takes dipole-like behavior across the deconfinement transition.