---
abstract: 'The profiles of the chromo-electric field generated by static quark-antiquark, $Q{\bar Q}$ and three-quark, $QQQ$ sources are calculated in Coulomb gauge. Using a variational ansatz for the ground state, we show that a flux tube-like structure emerges and combines to the “Y”-shape field profile for three static quarks. The properties of the chromo-electric field are, however, not expected to be the same as those of the full action density or the Wilson line and the differences are discussed.'
author:
- 'Patrick O. Bowman and Adam P. Szczepaniak'
title: ' Chromo-Electric flux tubes '
---

Introduction
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An intuitive picture of quark-gluon dynamics emerges in the Coulomb gauge, $\na\cdot \A^a = 0$ [@clee; @zw1; @zw2]. In this case QCD is represented as a many-body system of strongly interacting physical quarks, antiquarks and gluons. In particular the gluon degrees of freedom have only the two transverse polarizations and in the non-interacting limit reduce to the physical massless plane wave states. In the interacting theory gluonic states, just like any other colored objects, are expected to be non-propagating, [*i.e.*]{} confined on the hadronic scale. The non-propagating nature of colored states follows from the infrared enhanced dispersion relations which can be set 