Liquid-crystal defects and confinement in Yang-Mills theory

It has been shown that, in the Landau gauge of the SU(2) Yang-Mills theory, the residual global symmetry supports the existence of topological vortices which resemble disclination defects in nematic liquid crystals and Alice (half-quantum) vortices in superfluid ³He in the A-phase. The theory also possesses half-integer and integer-charged monopoles, which are analogous to the point-like defects in nematic crystal and in liquid helium. We argue that the deconfinement phase transition in the Yang-Mills theory in the Landau gauge is associated with the proliferation of these vortices and/or monopoles. The text was submitted by the author in English.