  QCD_2 with fundamental quarks on a cylinder is solved to leading order in the
1/N expansion, including the zero mode gluons. As a result of the
non-perturbative dynamics of these gauge degrees of freedom, the compact
space-time direction gets effectively decompactified. In a thermodynamic
interpretation, this implies that there is no pressure of order N and that the
chiral condensate of order N is temperature independent. These findings are
consistent with confinement of quarks, rule out both chiral and deconfining
phase transitions in the finite temperature 't Hooft model, and help to resolve
some controversial issues in the literature

High Energy Physics - Theory;High Energy Physics - Phenomenology