Phase structure of compactified $SU(N)$ gauge theories in magnetic backgrounds

Abstract: We discuss the properties of non-abelian gauge theories formulated on manifolds with compactified dimensions and in the presence of fermionic fields coupled to magnetic backgrounds. We show that different phases may emerge, corresponding to different realizations of center symmetry and translational invariance, depending on the compactification radius and on the magnitude of the magnetic field. Our discussion focuses on the case of an $SU(3)$ gauge theory in 4 dimensions with fermions fields in the fundamental representation, for which we provide some exploratory numerical lattice results.