Yang-Mills theory in Landau gauge as a liquid crystal

Using a spin-charge separation of the gluon field in the Landau gauge we show that the SU(2) Yang-Mills theory in the low-temperature phase can be considered as a nematic liquid crystal. The ground state of the nematic crystal is characterized by the A2 condensate of the gluon field. The liquid crystal possesses various topological defects (instantons, monopoles and vortices) which are suggested to play a role in non-perturbative features of the theory.