Center-symmetric effective theory for high-temperature SU(2) Yang-Mills theory

We construct and study a dimensionally reduced effective theory for high-temperature SU(2) Yang-Mills theory that respects all the symmetries of the underlying theory. Our main motivation is to study whether the correct treatment of the center symmetry can help extend the applicability of the dimensional reduction procedure towards the confinement transition. After performing perturbative matching to the full theory at asymptotically high temperatures, we map the phase diagram of the effective theory using nonperturbative lattice simulations. We find that at lower temperature the theory undergoes a second-order confining phase transition, in complete analogy with the full theory, which is a direct consequence of having incorporated the center symmetry.