Emergent Inert Adjoint Scalar Field in SU(2) Yang-Mills Thermodynamics due to Coarse-Grained Topological Fluctuations

We compute the phase and the modulus of an energy- and pressure-free, composite, adjoint, and inert field in an SU(2) Yang-Mills theory at large temperatures. This field is physically relevant in describing part of the ground-state structure and the quasiparticle masses of excitations. The field possesses nontrivial -winding on the group manifold . Even at asymptotically high temperatures, where the theory reaches its Stefan-Boltzmann limit, the field , though strongly power suppressed, is conceptually relevant: its presence resolves the infrared problem of thermal perturbation theory.