Abelian nature of cooled SU(2) lattice configurations

We introduce a gauge-invariant measure of the local open-quotes Abelianicityclose quotes of any given lattice configuration in non-Abelian lattice gauge theory; it is essentially a comparison of the magnitude of field strength commutators to the magnitude of the field strength itself. This measure, in conjunction with the cooling technique, is used to probe the SU(2) lattice vacuum for a possible large-scale Abelian background, underlying the local short-range field fluctuations. We do, in fact, find a substantial rise in the Abelianicity over ten cooling steps or so, after which the Abelianicity tends to drop again. copyright 1997 The American Physical Society