Baryon junction and string interactions. Part II

A bstract We study junctions between confining strings, extending the analysis of [ Phys. Rev. D 110 (2024) 056018]. These junctions arise in Yang-Mills theories, and we focus on their universal low-energy dynamics. Using open-closed duality, we map junctions with nonlinear corrections to the s -wave scattering amplitudes between confining string loops. In (3 + 1) dimensions, we uncover an accidental ℤ 2 symmetry. This symmetry implies novel selection rules for loop scattering amplitudes and is broken by the junction mass at subleading order. We determine the total mass of baryons up to order (baryon size) −3 , providing new, testable predictions for lattice simulations.