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Domain walls from confining bubbles: SU(N) Yang-Mills theory at finite θ

Bruno Missoni1,2,3,*, Enrico Morgante4,5,†, and Nicklas Ramberg1,2,3,‡

  • *Contact author: bmissoni@sissa.it
  • †Contact author: enrico.morgante@units.it
  • ‡Contact author: nramberg@sissa.it
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Phys. Rev. D 114, 075005 – Published 7 October, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/j4nk-pq4p

Abstract

We study the confinement phase transition (PT) in SU(Nc) pure Yang-Mills theory at finite θ≠0 using the improved holographic QCD (IHQCD) model. We show that the maximal amount of supercooling is reduced in the confinement PT as a function of θ for large but fixed Nc. Upon completion of the confinement PT, a network of domain walls can be produced, owing to the multibranched vacuum structure of Yang-Mills theory at finite θ. We highlight the potential interplay between the produced domain walls and the confinement PT dynamics. We emphasize that domain wall production from bubble coalescence in strongly coupled nonconformal first order PTs is a dynamical process of vacuum assignment, hydrodynamics, and local reheating effects, all potentially affecting the approach toward the scaling regime. Lastly, we demonstrate the level of tuning necessary for potentially interesting imprints from gravitational waves through domain wall annihilation and its interplay with the confinement PT.

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Phys. Rev. D 114, 075005– Published 7 October, 2026
  • Received 31 July 2026
  • Accepted 18 September 2026
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