Chromoelectric and chromomagnetic effects in the confinement of gluons

Results are presented from a new variational calculation of quantized SU(3) Yang-Mills fields. The Hamiltonian formalism is applied to the continuum theory, with a truncated momentum expansion in a finite volume, using the Coulomb gauge. The relative importance of electrical and magnetic effects is examined using an improved treatment of paramagnetic effects. Th results depend on the value of the interaction constant with a transition at α∼0.4. For α>0, there is a mass gap between the first excited state and the vacuum state, arisin from properties of the Faddeev-Popov determinant. For α> o ∼ 0.4, properties of the Coulomb energy operator lead to second mass gap between the first and the higher excited states. (author). 6 figs., 15 refs