Breaking of the adjoint string in 2+1 dimensions

Abstract The roughly linear rise of the potential found between adjoint sources in U( N ) in lattice simulations is expected to saturate into a state of two ‘gluelumps‘ due to gluonic screening. We examine this in SU(2) in 2+1 dimensions. Crossover between string-like and broken states is clearly seen by the mixing-matrix technique, using different operators to probe the two states; the breaking behaviour is rather abrupt. Furthermore, we are able to show that both types of operator have a finite overlap with both states; in the case of the Wilson loops the overlap with the broken string is, as predicted, very small.