Multiflavor QCD∗ on R3×S1: Studying transition from Abelian to non-Abelian confinement

The center-stabilized multiflavor QCD∗ theories formulated on R3×S1 exhibit both Abelian and non-Abelian confinement as a function of the S1 radius, similar to the Seiberg-Witten theory as a function of the mass deformation parameter. For sufficiently small number of flavors and small r(S1), we show occurrence of a mass gap in gauge fluctuations, and linear confinement. This is a regime of confinement without continuous chiral symmetry breaking (χSB). Unlike one-flavor theories where there is no phase transition in r(S1), the multiflavor theories possess a single phase transition associated with breaking of the continuous χS. We conjecture that the scale of the χSB is parametrically tied up with the scale of Abelian to non-Abelian confinement transition.