At 2-loop order, Feynman integrals in the Coulomb gauge are divergent over the internal energy variables. Nevertheless, it is known how to calculate the effective action provided that the external gluon fields are all transverse. We show that, for the two-gluon Greens function as an example, the method can be extended to include longitudinal external fields. The longitudinal Greens functions appear in the BRST identities. As an intermediate step, we use a flow gauge, which interpolates between the Feynman and Coulomb gauges.
In the Coulomb gauge, the Hamiltonian of QCD contains terms of order h^2, identified by Christ and Lee, which are non-local but instantaneous. The question is addressed how these terms fit in with BRST invariance. Our discussion is confined to the simplest, O(g^4), example.
At 2-loop order in the Coulomb gauge, individual Feynman graphs contributing to the effective action have energy divergences. It is proved that these cancel in suitable combinations of graphs. This has previously been shown only for transverse external fields. The calculation results in a generalization of the Christ-Lee term which was inserted into the Hamiltonian.
The Coulomb gauge in QCD is the only explicitly unitary gauge. But it suffers from energy-divergences which means that it is not rigorously well-defined. One way to define it unambiguously is as the limit of a gauge interpolating between the Landau gauge and the Coulomb gauge. This interpolating gauge is characterised by a parameter theta and the Coulomb gauge is obtained in the limit theta tends to zero. We study the renormalization of this theta-gauge for all values of theta, and note some special features of it.
Exploiting duality in a toy model of QCD at non-zero temperature and chemical potential: the massive Thirring model, sine-Gordon model and Coulomb gases
We study the consistency of the non-Abelian Coulomb gauge. There are energy divergences in individual diagrams, which are known to cancel at 2-loop order when suitable sets of diagrams are summed. We investigate to 3-loop order the inclusion of UV divergent sub-graphs into the energy divergences. In all the examples we study, we find sets of graphs which are free of energy divergences. We make use of an interpolating gauge to regularise the energy divergences while integrals are manipulated. We comment on radiative corrections to the Christ-Lee terms in the Hamiltonian.
The chiral and deconfinement phase transitions are investigated within the variational Hamiltonian approach to QCD in Coulomb gauge. The temperature $β^{- 1}$ is introduced by compactifying a spatial dimension. Thereby the whole temperature dependence is encoded in the vacuum state on the spatial manifold $\mathbb{R}^2 \times S^1 (β)$. The chiral quark condensate and the dual quark condensate (dressed Polyakov loop) are calculated as function of the temperature. From their inflection points the pseudo-critical temperatures for the chiral and deconfinement crossover transitions are determined. …
The variational Hamiltonian approach to QCD in Coulomb gauge is reviewed and the essential results obtained in recent years are summarized. First the results for the vacuum sector are discussed, with a special emphasis on the mechansim of confinement and chiral symmetry breaking. Then the deconfinement phase transition is described by introducing temperature in the Hamiltonian approach via compactification of one spatial dimension. The effective action for the Polyakov loop is calculated and the order of the phase transition as well as the critical temperatures are obtained for the color group…
The Coulomb branch of 3-dimensional N=4 gauge theories is the space of bare and dressed BPS monopole operators. We utilise the conformal dimension to define a fan which, upon intersection with the weight lattice of a GNO-dual group, gives rise to a collection of semi-groups. It turns out that the unique Hilbert bases of these semi-groups are a sufficient, finite set of monopole operators which generate the entire chiral ring. Moreover, the knowledge of the properties of the minimal generators is enough to compute the Hilbert series explicitly. The techniques of this paper allow an efficient ev…
We study Coulomb branch moduli spaces of a class of three dimensional $\mathcal{N}=4$ gauge theories whose quiver satisfies the balance condition. The Coulomb branch is described by dressed monopole operators which can be counted using the Monopole formula. We mainly focus on A-type quivers in this paper, using Hilbert Series to study their moduli spaces, and present the interesting pattern which emerges. All of these balanced A-type quiver gauge theories can be realized on brane intervals in Type IIB string theory, where mirror symmetry acts by exchanging the five branes and induces an equiva…
We present various confinement phases of three-dimensional $\mathcal{N}=2$ $Spin(N)$ gauge theories with vector and spinor matters. The quantum Coulomb branch of the moduli space of vacua is drastically changed when the rank of the gauge group and the matter contents are changed. In many examples, the Coulomb branch is one- or two-dimensional but its interpretation varies. In some examples, the Coulomb branch becomes three-dimensional and we need to introduce a "dressed" Coulomb branch operator.
This paper tests a conjecture on discrete non-Abelian gauging of 3d $\mathcal{N} = 4$ supersymmetric quiver gauge theories. Given a parent quiver with a bouquet of $n$ nodes of rank $1$, invariant under a discrete $S_n$ global symmetry, one can construct a daughter quiver where the bouquet is substituted by a single adjoint $n$ node. Based on the main conjecture in this paper, the daughter quiver corresponds to a theory where the $S_n$ discrete global symmetry is gauged and the new Coulomb branch is a non-Abelian orbifold of the parent Coulomb branch. We demonstrate and test the conjecture for…
In the present work we undertake a study of the Schwinger-Dyson equation (SDE) in the Euclidean formulation of local quantum gauge field theory, with Coulomb gauge condition $\partial_i A_i = 0$. We continue a previous study which kept only instantaneous terms in the SDE that are proportional to $δ(t)$ in order to calculate the instantaneous part of the time component of the gluon propagator $D_{A_0 A_0}(t, R)$. We compare the results of that study with a numerical simulation of lattice gauge theory and find that the infrared critical exponents and related quantities agree to within 1\% to 3\%…
We investigate the equal-time (static) quark propagator in Coulomb gauge within the Hamiltonian approach to QCD in $d=2$ spatial dimensions. Although the underlying Clifford algebra is very different from its counterpart in $d=3$, the gap equation for the dynamical mass function has the same form. The additional vector kernel which was introduced in $d=3$ to cancel the linear divergence of the gap equation and to preserve multiplicative renormalizability of the quark propagator makes the gap equation free of divergences also in $d=2$.
I will review essential features of the Hamiltonian approach to QCD in Coulomb gauge showing that Gribov's confinement scenario is realized in this gauge. For this purpose I will discuss in detail the emergence of the horizon condition and the Coulomb string tension. I will show that both are induced by center vortex gauge field configurations, which establish the connection between Gribov's confinement scenario and the center vortex picture of confinement. I will then extend the Hamiltonian approach to QCD in Coulomb gauge to finite temperatures, first by the usual grand canonical ensemble an…
I report on recent results obtained within the Hamiltonian approach to QCD in Coulomb gauge. By relating the Gribov confinement scenario to the center vortex picture of confinement it is shown that the Coulomb string tension is tied to the spatial string tension. For the quark sector a vacuum wave functional is used which results in variational equations which are free of ultraviolet divergences. The variational approach is extended to finite temperatures by compactifying a spatial dimension. For the chiral and deconfinement phase transition pseudo-critical temperatures of 170 MeV and 198 MeV,…
