We put forward the Axionic String Ansatz (ASA), which provides a unified description for the worldsheet dynamics of confining strings in pure Yang--Mills theory both in $D=3$ and $D=4$ space-time dimensions. The ASA is motivated by the excitation spectrum of long confining strings, as measured on a lattice, and by recently constructed integrable axionic non-critical string models. According to the ASA, pure gluodynamics in 3D is described by a non-critical bosonic string theory without any extra local worldsheet degrees of freedom. We argue that this assumption fixes the set of quantum numbers (spins, $P$- and $C$-parities) of almost all glueball states. We confront the resulting predictions with the properties of approximately $1^2+2^2+3^2+5^2=39$ lightest glueball states measured on a lattice and find a good agreement. On the other hand, the spectrum of low lying glueballs in 4D gluodynamics suggests the presence of a massive pseudoscalar mode on the string worldsheet, in agreement with the ASA and lattice data for long strings.
We use an analogy between the Yang-Mills theory Hamiltonian and the matrix model description of the closed bosonic membrane theory to calculate the spectrum of glueballs in the large $N_c$ limit. Some features of the Yang-Mills theory vacuum, such as the screening of the topological charge and vacuum topological susceptibility are discussed. We show that the topological susceptibility has different properties depending on whether it is calculated in the weak coupling or strong coupling regimes of the theory. A mechanism of the formation of the pseudoscalar glueball state within pure Yang-Mills…
We present variational estimates for the low-lying energies of a simple matrix model that approximates $SU(3)$ Yang-Mills theory on a three-sphere of radius $R$. By fixing the ground state energy, we obtain the (integrated) renormalization group (RG) equation for the Yang-Mills coupling $g$ as a function of $R$. This RG equation allows to estimate the masses of other glueball states, which we find to be in excellent agreement with lattice simulations.
We conjecture that in Yang-Mills theories the ratio between the ground-state glueball mass squared and the string tension is proportional to the ratio of the eigenvalues of quadratic Casimir operators in the adjoint and the fundamental representations. The proportionality constant depends on the dimension of the space-time only, and is henceforth universal. We argue that this universality, which is supported by available lattice results, is a direct consequence of area-law confinement. In order to explain this universal behaviour, we provide three analytical arguments, based respectively on a …
We make use of the global symmetries of the Yang-Mills theory on the lattice to design a new computational strategy for extracting glueball masses and matrix elements which achieves an exponential reduction of the statistical error with respect to standard techniques. By generalizing our previous work on the parity symmetry, the partition function of the theory is decomposed into a sum of path integrals each giving the contribution from multiplets of states with fixed quantum numbers associated to parity, charge conjugation, translations, rotations and central conjugations Z_N^3. Ratios of pat…
We report the masses of the lightest spin-0 and spin-2 glueballs obtained in an extensive lattice study of the continuum and infinite volume limits of $Sp(N_c)$ gauge theories for $N_c=2,4,6,8$. We also extrapolate the combined results towards the large-$N_c$ limit. We compute the ratio of scalar and tensor masses, and observe evidence that this ratio is independent of $N_{c}$. Other lattice studies of Yang-Mills theories at the same space-time dimension provide a compatible ratio. We further compare these results to various analytical ones and discuss them in view of symmetry-based arguments …
Relying on an effective-string approach in which glueballs --- bound states of pure Yang-Mills theory --- are modelled by closed strings, we give arguments suggesting that anyonic glueballs, \textit{i.e.} glueballs with arbitrary spin, may exist in $(2+1)$-$\,$dimensional Yang-Mills theory. We then focus on the large$\,$-$N_c$ limit of $SU$($N_c$) Yang-Mills theory and show that our model leads to a mass spectrum in good agreement with lattice data in the scalar sector, while it predicts the masses and spins of anyonic glueball states.
Effective field theory of scalar glueballs: Form factors and interaction radii
CFisUC, Department of Physics, University of Coimbra（科英布拉大学物理系CFisUC）；Departamento de Física, Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica, DCTA（航空技术学院物理系DCTA）；Laboratório de Computação Científica Avançada e Modelamento (Lab-CCAM)（高级计算与建模实验室(Lab-CCAM)）
Spectra of glueball masses in non-supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory in three and four dimensions have recently been computed using the conjectured duality between superstring theory and large N gauge theory. The Kaluza-Klein states of supergravity do not correspond to any states in the Yang-Mills theory and therefore should decouple in the continuum limit. On the other hand, in the supergravity limit g_{YM}^2 N -> \infty, we find that the masses of the Kaluza-Klein states are comparable to those of the glueballs. We also show that the leading (g_{YM}^2N)^{-1} corrections do not make these state…
Standard local updating algorithms experience a critical slowing down close to the continuum limit, which is particularly severe for topological observables. In practice, the Markov chain tends to remain trapped in a fixed topological sector. This problem further worsens at large $N$, and is known as $\mathit{topological}~\mathit{freezing}$. To mitigate it, we adopt the parallel tempering on boundary conditions proposed by M. Hasenbusch. This algorithm allows to obtain a reduction of the auto-correlation time of the topological charge up to several orders of magnitude. With this strategy we ar…
We calculate the scattering cross section between two $0^{++}$ glueballs in $SU(2)$ Yang-Mills theory on lattice at $β= 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4$, and 2.5 using the indirect (HAL QCD) method. We employ the cluster-decomposition error reduction technique and use all space-time symmetries to improve the signal. In the use of the HAL QCD method, the centrifugal force was subtracted to remove the systematic effect due to nonzero angular momenta of lattice discretization. From the extracted interglueball potential we determine the low energy glueball effective theory by matching with the one-glueball exc…
A qualitative study of the lightest glueball states in Euclidean SU(2) Yang-Mills theory quantized in the maximal Abelian gauge is presented. The analysis is done by generalizing to the maximal Abelian gauge the so-called replica model, already successfully introduced in the Landau gauge. As it will be shown, the gluon and ghost propagators obtained from the replica model are of the same type of those already introduced in Phys. Rev. D77, 105023 (2008) [arXiv:0801.0566], whose behavior turns out to be in agreement with that available from the lattice data on the maximal Abelian gauge. The mode…
We investigate the spectrum of the lightest states of N=1 Super Yang-Mills. We first study the spectrum using the recently extended Veneziano Yankielowicz theory containing also the glueball states besides the gluinoball ones. Using a simple Kahler term we show that within the effective Lagrangian approach one can accommodate either the possibility in which the glueballs are heavier or lighter than the gluinoball fields. We then provide an effective Lagrangian independent argument which allows, using information about ordinary QCD, to deduce that the lightest states in super Yang-Mills are the…
We determine spins of more than 100 low lying glueball states in $D=2+1$ dimensional $SU(4)$ gluodynamics by a lattice calculation. We go up to $J=8$ in the spin value. We compare the resulting spectrum with predictions of the Axionic String Ansatz (ASA). We find a perfect match for 39 lightest states, corresponding to the first four string levels. In particular, this resolves tensions between the ASA predictions and earlier spin determinations. The observed spins of heavier glueballs are also in a good agreement with the ASA. We did not identify any sharp tension between lattice data and the …
We consider a variational approach to the finite temperature Yang-Mills theory in the Coulomb gauge. The partition function is computed in the ensemble of glueballs and quasi-gluons which emerge as eigenstates of the Coulomb gauge Hamiltonian. We compute the energy density and pressure and compare with results of lattice computations for both SU(2) and SU(3). The emergence of a phase transition is discussed.
Motivated in part by the pseudo-Nambu Goldstone Boson mechanism of electroweak symmetry breaking in Composite Higgs Models, in part by dark matter scenarios with strongly coupled origin, as well as by general theoretical considerations related to the large-N extrapolation, we perform lattice studies of the Yang-Mills theories with $Sp(2N)$ gauge groups. We measure the string tension and the mass spectrum of glueballs, extracted from appropriate 2-point correlation functions of operators organised as irreducible representations of the octahedral symmetry group. We perform the continuum extrapol…
We study cosmological constraints on dark pure Yang-Mills sectors. Dark glueballs are overproduced for large regions of ultraviolet parameter space. The problem may be alleviated in two ways: via a large preferential reheating into the visible sector, motivating certain inflation or modulus decay models, or via decays into axions or moduli, which are strongly constrained by nucleosynthesis and $ΔN_{\text{eff}}$ bounds. String models frequently have multiple hidden Yang-Mills sectors, which are subject to even stronger constraints due to the existence of multiple dark glueballs.
A strong coupling expansion of the SU(2) Yang-Mills quantum Hamiltonian is carried out in the form of an expansion in the number of spatial derivatives, using the symmetric gauge ε_{ijk} A_{jk}=0. Introducing an infinite lattice with box length a, I obtain a systematic strong coupling expansion of the Hamiltonian in λ\equiv g^{-2/3}, with the free part being the sum of Hamiltonians of Yang-Mills quantum mechanics of constant fields for each box, and interaction terms of higher and higher number of spatial derivatives connecting different boxes. The corresponding deviation from the free gluebal…
In this paper we study qualitative features of glueballs in N=1 SYM for models of wrapped branes in IIA and IIB backgrounds. The scalar mode, 0++ is found to be a mixture of the dilaton and the internal part of the metric. We carry out the numerical study of the IIB background. The potential found exhibits a mass gap and produces a discrete spectrum without any cut-off. We propose a regularization procedure needed to make these states normalizable.
We propose an approach which enables one to obtain simultaneously the glueball mass and the gluon mass in the gauge-invariant way to shed new light on the mass gap problem in Yang-Mills theory. First, we point out that the Faddeev (Skyrme--Faddeev-Niemi) model can be induced through the gauge-invariant vacuum condensate of mass dimension two from SU(2) Yang-Mills theory. Second, we obtain the glueball mass spectrum by performing the collective coordinate quantization of the topological knot soliton in the Faddeev model. Third, we demonstrate that a relationship between the glueball mass and th…
We present details of the analytic computation of the spectrum of lowest spin glueballs in pure Yang-Mills theory in 2+1 dimensions. The new ingredient is provided by the conjectured new non-trivial expression for the (quasi)Gaussian part of the ground state wave-functional. We show that this wave-functional can be derived by solving the Schrodinger equation under certain assumptions. The mass spectrum of the theory is determined by the zeros of Bessel functions, and the agreement with available lattice data is excellent.
Lattice simulations currently present the only way to access nonperturbative data in strongly coupled theories from a first principle calculation. However, in supersymmetric theories this valuable tool is not available due to the technical sign problem. We are going to demonstrate that in the case of glueball spectra a good quantitative estimate for the lightest states of low spin can be obtained by means of the holographic approach. We will review the results of the calculation in the singlet glueball sector of the N=1 supersymmetric Klebanov-Strassler model. We come up with a prediction of t…
In the pure large-N Yang-Mills theory there is a quasi-BPS sector that is exactly solvable at large N. It follows an exact beta function and the glueball spectrum in this sector. The main technical tool is a new holomorphic loop equation for quasi-BPS Wilson loops, that occurs as a non-supersymmetric analogue of Dijkgraaf-Vafa holomorphic loop equation for the glueball superpotential of n=1 SUSY gauge theories. The new holomorphic loop equation is localized, i.e. reduced to a critical equation, by a deformation of the loop that is a vanishing boundary in homology, somehow in analogy with Witte…
We describe a ten dimensional supergravity geometry which is dual to a gauge theory that is non-supersymmetric Yang Mills in the infra-red but reverts to $N$=4 super Yang Mills in the ultra-violet. A brane probe of the geometry shows that the scalar potential of the gauge theory is stable. We discuss the infra-red behaviour of the solution. The geometry describes a Schroedinger equation potential that determines the glueball spectrum of the theory; there is a mass gap and a discrete spectrum. The glueball mass predictions match previous AdS/CFT Correspondence computations in the non-supersymme…
It is shown that the Born-Infeld-type modification of the quadratic Yang-Mills action suggested by the superstring theory gives rise to classical particle-like solutions prohibited in the standard Yang-Mills theory. This becomes possible due to the scale invariance breaking by the Born-Infeld non-linearity. New classical glueballs are sphaleronic in nature and exhibit a striking similarity with the Bartnik-McKinnon solutions of the Yang-Mills theory coupled to gravity.
We derive the glueball masses in noncommutative super Yang--Mills theories in four dimensions via the dual supergravity description. The spectrum of glueball masses is discrete due to the noncommutativity and the glueball masses are proportional to the noncommutativity parameter with dimension of length. The mass spectrum in the WKB approximation closely agrees with the mass spectrum in finite temperature Yang--Mills theory.
We reconsider a one-parameter class of known solutions of the circle compactification of Romans six-dimensional half-maximal supergravity. The gauge-theory duals of these solutions are confining four-dimensional field theories. Their UV completions consist of the compactification on a circle of a higher-dimensional field theory that is flowing between two fixed points in five dimensions. We systematically study the bosonic fluctuations of the supergravity theory, corresponding to the bosonic glueballs of the dual field theory. We perform numerically the calculation of the spectrum of excitatio…
The mass spectrum of pure Yang-Mills theory in 3+1 dimensions is discussed for an arbitrary simple gauge algebra within a quasigluon picture. The general structure of the low-lying gluelump and two-quasigluon glueball spectrum is shown to be common to all algebras, while the lightest $C=-$ three-quasigluon glueballs only exist when the gauge algebra is A$_{r\geq 2}$, that is in particular $\mathfrak{su}(N\geq3)$. Higher-lying $C=-$ glueballs are shown to exist only for the A$_{r\geq2}$, D$_{{\rm odd}-r\geq 4}$ and E$_6$ gauge algebras. The shape of the static energy between adjoint sources is …
Recent numerical calculations of the glueball spectrum in QCD, in SU($N$) Yang-Mills theory in the large-$N$ limit and in candidate theories of strongly interacting dynamics beyond the standard model (in which the lowest-lying scalar plays the role of the Higgs boson) are reviewed and their implications for our theoretical understanding of glueballs in QCD-like theories and in strongly coupled gauge theories with a (near-)conformal dynamics are discussed.
The scalar glueball $G$ is the lightest particle of the Yang-Mills sector of QCD, with a lattice predicted mass of about $m_{G}\simeq1.7$ GeV. It is natural to investigate glueball-glueball scattering and the possible emergence of a bound state, that we call glueballonium. We perform this study in the context of a widely used dilaton potential, that depends on a single dimensionful parameter $Λ_G$. We consider a unitarization prescription that allows us to predict the lowest partial waves in the elastic window. These quantities can be in principle calculated on the lattice, thus offering possi…
We show that new nonperturbative scales exist in four-dimensional ${\cal{N}}$$=$$1$ super-Yang-Mills theory compactified on a circle, with an iterated-exponential dependence on the inverse gauge coupling. The lightest states with the quantum numbers of four-dimensional glueballs are nonrelativistic bound states of dual Cartan gluons and superpartners, with binding energy equal to $e^{- e^{1/g^2}}$ in units of the confining mass gap. Focusing on $SU(2)$ gauge group, we construct the nonrelativistic effective theory, show that the lightest glueball/glueballino states fill a chiral supermultiplet…
The semi-phenomenological improved holographic model for QCD is confronted with data of the pure glue, large-Nc gauge theory. After fitting two phenomenological parameters in the potential, the model can reproduce in detail all thermodynamic functions at finite temperature. It also reproduces in detail all known spin-0 and spin-2 glueball observables at zero temperature and predicts the rest of the 0++ and 2++ towers. A similar two parameter fit in the CP-odd sector postdicts the correct second 0+- glueball mass, and predicts the rest of the 0+- tower.
An approximate vacuum wave functional $Ψ_0$ is proposed for $2+1$-dimensional Yang-Mills theories. Using $Ψ_0$, one can compute the $0^{++}$ glueball mass $M_G$ in terms of the string tension. By using the idea of dimensional reduction, a prediction for $M_G$ can be made in $3+1$ dimensions. One finds $M_G \approx 1.5$ GeV.
The present work discusses an approach to access the physical spectrum of the Yang-Mills theory quantized in the Landau gauge. By using recent lattice data on the gluon propagator, it is possible to study the two-point functions of gauge invariant composite operators, from which masses of glueballs can be extracted. It turns out that the momentum dependence of the gluon propagator is very well reproduced by the corresponding tree-level gluon propagator obtained from the Refined Gribov-Zwanziger theory, which takes into account the presence of the Gribov horizon as well as the effect of condens…
The confinement problem has been solved in the anisotropic (2+1)-dimensional SU(N) Yang-Mills theory at weak coupling. In this paper, we find the low-lying spectrum for N=2. The lightest excitations are pairs of fundamental particles of the (1+1)-dimensional SU(2)XSU(2) principal chiral sigma model bound in a linear potential, with a specified matching condition where the particles overlap. This matching condition can be determined from the exactly-known S-matrix for the sigma model.
Non-perturbative aspects of the physics of $Sp(2N)$ gauge theories are interesting for phenomenological and theoretical reasons, and little studied so far, particularly in the approach to the large-$N$ limit. We examine the spectrum of glueballs and the string tension of Yang-Mills theories based upon these groups. Glueball masses are calculated numerically with a variational method from Monte-Carlo generated lattice gauge configurations. After taking continuum limits for $N$ = 1, 2, 3 and 4, we extrapolate the results towards large $N$. We compare the resulting spectrum with that of $SU(N)$ g…
We set up an infrared-based moment problem to obtain estimates of the masses of the scalar, pseudoscalar and tensor glueballs in Euclidean Yang-Mills theories using the Refined Gribov-Zwanziger (RGZ) version of the Landau gauge, which takes into account nonperturbative physics related to gauge copies. Employing lattice input for the mass scales of the RGZ gluon propagator, the lowest order moment problem approximation gives the values m_{0++}\approx 1.96 GeV, m_{2++} \approx 2.04 GeV and m_{0-+}\approx 2.19 GeV in the SU(3) case, all within a 20% range of the corresponding lattice values. We a…
It is shown that the formulation of the SU(3) Yang-Mills quantum Hamiltonian in the "flux-tube gauge" $A_{a1}=0$ for all a=1,2,4,5,6,7 and $A_{a2}=0$ for all a=5,7 allows for a systematic and practical strong coupling expansion of the Hamiltonian in $λ\equiv g^{-2/3}$, equivalent to an expansion in the number of spatial derivatives. Introducing an infinite spatial lattice with box length a, the "free part" is the sum of Hamiltonians of Yang-Mills quantum mechanics of constant fields for each box, and the "interaction terms" contain higher and higher number of spatial derivatives connecting dif…
Glueballs have a natural interpretation as closed strings in Yang-Mills theory. Their stability requires that the string carries a nontrivial twist, or then it is knotted. Since a twist can be either left-handed or right-handed, this implies that the glueball spectrum must be degenerate. This degeneracy becomes consistent with experimental observations, when we identify the $η_L(1410)$ component of the $η(1440)$ pseudoscalar as a $0^{-+}$ glueball, degenerate in mass with the widely accepted $0^{++}$ glueball $f_0(1500)$. In addition of qualitative similarities, we find that these two states a…
In commonly used Monte Carlo algorithms for lattice gauge theories the integrated autocorrelation time of the topological charge is known to be exponentially-growing as the continuum limit is approached. This $\mathit{topological}\,\,\textit{freezing}$, whose severity increases with the size of the gauge group, can result in potentially large systematics. To provide a direct quantification of the latter, we focus on $\mathrm{SU}(6)$ Yang--Mills theory at a lattice spacing for which conventional methods associated to the decorrelation of the topological charge have an unbearable computational c…
We explore the paradigm according to which inflation is driven by a four-dimensional strongly coupled dynamics coupled non-minimally to gravity. We start by introducing the general setup, both in the metric and Palatini formulation, for generic models of composite inflation. We then analyze the relevant example where the inflaton is identified with the glueball field of a pure Yang-Mills theory. We introduce the dilatonic-like glueball action which is obtained by requiring saturation of the underlying Yang-Mills trace anomaly at the effective action level. We couple the resulting action non-mi…
The glueball dark matter, in the pure SU(N) Yang-Mills theory, engenders dark SU(N) stars that comprise self-gravitating compact configurations of scalar glueball fields. Corrections to the highest frequency of gravitational wave radiation emitted by dark SU(N) star mergers on a fluid brane with variable tension, implemented by the minimal geometric deformation, are derived and their consequences analysed. Hence, dark SU(N) stars mergers on a fluid brane-world are shown to be better detectable by the LIGO and the eLISA experiments.
We discuss the dependence of pure Yang-Mills equation of state on the choice of gauge algebra. In the confined phase, we generalize to an arbitrary simple gauge algebra Meyer's proposal of modelling the Yang-Mills matter by an ideal glueball gas in which the high-lying glueball spectrum is approximated by a Hagedorn spectrum of closed-bosonic-string type. Such a formalism is undefined above the Hagedorn temperature, corresponding to the phase transition toward a deconfined state of matter in which gluons are the relevant degrees of freedom. Under the assumption that the adjoint string tension …
Recently there has been a notable progress in the study of glueball states in lattice gauge theories, in particular extrapolating their spectrum to the limit of large number of colors $N$. In this note we compare the large $N$ lattice results with the holographic predictions, focusing on the Klebanov-Strassler model. We note that glueball spectrum demonstrates approximate universality across a range of gauge theory models. Because of this universality the holographic models can give reliable predictions for the spectrum of pure $SU(N)$ Yang-Mills theories with and without supersymmetry. This i…
The holographic formalism is applied to the calculation of the effective potential for the scalar glueball operator. Three different versions of this operator are defined, and for each we compute the associated effective potential and discuss its properties and scheme ambiguities. Contact is made to earlier attempts to guess this effective potential from the conformal anomaly. We apply our results to the Improved Holographic QCD model calculating the glueball condensate.
We compare the glueball mass spectrum of an effective N=1 pure super Yang-Mills theory formulated in terms of a three-form supermultiplet with the available lattice data. These confirm the presence of four scalars and two Majorana fermions but the detailed mass spectrum is difficult to reconcile with the effective supersymmetric theory. By imposing supersymmetry and using two of four bosonic masses we get a prediction for the remaining masses as well as the mixing angles. We find that the mass of the three-form dominates over the contribution of the Veneziano-Yankielowicz-Dijkgraaf-Vafa term. …
We study aspects of confinement in two deformed versions of the AdS/CFT correspondence - the GPPZ dual of N=1* Yang Mills, and the Yang Mills* N=0 dual. Both geometries describe discrete glueball spectra which we calculate numerically. The results agree at the 10% level with previous AdS/CFT computations in the Klebanov Strassler background and AdS Schwarzchild respectively. We also calculate the spectra of bound states of the massive fermions in these geometries and show that they are light, so not decoupled from the dynamics. We then study the behaviour of Wilson loops in the 10d lifts of th…
We analytically compute the spectrum of the spin zero glueballs in the planar limit of pure Yang-Mills theory in 2+1 dimensions. The new ingredient is provided by our computation of a new non-trivial form of the ground state wave-functional. The mass spectrum of the theory is determined by the zeroes of Bessel functions, and the agreement with large N lattice data is excellent.
We calculate for the first time the scattering cross section between lightest glueballs in $SU(2)$ pure Yang-Mills theory, which are good candidates of dark matter. In the first step, we evaluate the interglueball potential on lattice using the HAL QCD method, with several lattice spacings ($β= 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4$, and 2.5). The systematics associated with nonzero angular momentum effect is removed by subtracting the centrifugal force. The statistical accuracy is improved by employing the cluster-decomposition error reduction technique and by using all space-time symmetries. We then determine …
We compute the one-loop string corrections to the Wilson loop, glueball Regge trajectory and stringy hadron masses in the Witten model of non supersymmetric, large-N Yang-Mills theory. The classical string configurations corresponding to the above field theory objects are respectively: open straight strings, folded closed spinning strings, and strings orbiting in the internal part of the supergravity background. For the rectangular Wilson loop we show that besides the standard Luescher term, string corrections provide a rescaling of the field theory string tension. The one-loop corrections to …
Supersymmetry provides a well-established theoretical framework for extensions of the standard model of particle physics and the general understanding of quantum field theories. We summarise here our investigations of N=1 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory with SU(2) gauge symmetry using the non-perturbative first-principles method of numerical lattice simulations. The strong interactions of gluons and their superpartners, the gluinos, lead to confinement, and a spectrum of bound states including glueballs, mesons, and gluino-glueballs emerges at low energies. For unbroken supersymmetry these pa…
