Non-Abelian variation on the Savvidy vacuum of the Yang-Mills gauge theory.

As a prelude to a truly non-perturbative evaluation of the e ective potential in terms of lattice QCD, the one loop e ective potential for a non-Abelian gauge con guration is calculated using the background eld method. Through a non-trivial correlation between the space and color orientations the new background eld avoids the possible coordinate singularity, DetBa i = 0, observed recently by Ken Johnson and his collaborators in their Schr odinger functional study of the SU(2) Yang-Mills theory. In addition, since our ansatz generates a constant color magnetic eld through the commutator terms rather than derivative terms, many of the technical drawbacks the Savvidy ansatz su ers on a lattice can be avoided. Our one loop study yields qualitatively the same result as that of Savvidy's.