Quantum chromodynamics as dynamics of loops

QCD is entirely reformulated in terms of white composite fields—the traces of the loop products. The 1/ N expansion turns out to be the WKB (Hartree-Fock) approximation for these fields. The "classical" equation describing the N = ∞ case is reduced to a bootstrap form. New, manifestly gauge-invariant perturbation theory in the loop space, reproducing asymptotic freedom, is developed by iterations of this equation. The area law appears to be a self-consistent solution at large loops.