Dynamic universality for Z2 and Z3 lattice gauge theories at finite temperature

Swendsen-Wang random surface dynamics for Z 2 and Zi3 gauge theories in 2+1 dimensions is applied to the finite-temperature deconfining transition, and the static universality conjecture of Svetitsky and Yaffe is extended to the exponentzfor critical dynamics. Our new dynamic universality conjecture (z RS d+1 =z SW d ) is supported both by a qualitative argument and by numerical simulations that show that the dynamic critical exponents for (2+1)-dimensional gauge theories (logarithmic or z RS <0.3±0.1 and0.53±0.03 for Zi2 and Z 3 , respectively) are consistent with the values for the two-dimensional Ising-Potts models (logarithmic or z SW =0.20-0.27 and 0.55±0.03 for Z 2 and Z 3 , respectively) at the finite-temperature transition