The problem of the large-N phase transition in the Kazakov-Migdal model of induced QCD

Abstract We study the lattice gauge model proposed recently by Kazakov and Migdal for inducing QCD. We discuss an extra local Z N which is a symmetry of the model and propose of how to construct observables. We discuss the role of the large- N phase transition which should occur before the one associated with the continuum limit in order for the model to describe continuum QCD. We formulate the mean field approach to study the large- N phase transition for an arbitrary potential and show that no first order phase transition occurs for the quadratic potential.