In view of the expectation that the existence of complex poles is a signal of confinement, we investigate the analytic structure of the gluon, quark, and ghost propagators in the Landau gauge QCD and QCD-like theories by employing an effective model with a gluon mass term of the Yang-Mills theory, which we call the massive Yang-Mills model. In this model, we particularly investigate the number of complex poles in the parameter space of the model consisting of gauge coupling constant, gluon mass, and quark mass for the gauge group $SU(3)$ and various numbers of quark flavors $N_F$ within the asymptotic free region. Both the gluon and quark propagators at the best-fit parameters for $N_F=2$ QCD have one pair of complex conjugate poles, while the number of complex poles in the gluon propagator varies between zero and four depending on the number of quark flavors and quark mass. Moreover, as a general feature, we argue that the gluon spectral function of this model with nonzero quark mass is negative in the infrared limit. In sharp contrast to gluons, the quark and ghost propagators are insensitive to the number of quark flavors within the current approximations adopted in this paper. These results suggest that details of the confinement mechanism may depend on the number of quark flavors and quark mass.
We study the Landau pole in the lambda phi^4 field theory at non-zero and large temperatures. We show that the position of the thermal Landau pole Lambda_L(T) is shifted to higher energies with respect to the zero temperature Landau pole Lambda_L(0). We find for high temperatures T > Lambda_L(0), Lambda_L(T) simeq pi^2 T / log (T / Lambda_L(0)). Therefore, the range of applicability in energy of the lambda phi^4 field theory increases with the temperature.
We apply the Bogoliubov compensation principle to QCD. The non-trivial solution of compensation equations for a spontaneous generation of the anomalous three-gluon interaction leads to the determination of parameters of the theory, including behavior of the gauge coupling $α_s(Q^2)$ without the Landau singularity, the gluon condensate $V_2\,\simeq\,0.01\,GeV^4$, mass of the lightest glueball $M_G\,\simeq\,1500\,MeV$ in satisfactory agreement with the phenomenological knowledge. The results strongly support the applicability of N.N. Bogoliubov compensation approach to gauge theories of the Stan…
We investigate Lipatov's QCD effective action for the QCD high energy limit and propose a pole prescription for higher order induced vertices. The latter can be used in the evaluation of loop corrections to high energy factorized matrix elements within the effective action approach. The proposed prescription respects the symmetry properties of the unregulated vertices. Explicit results are presented up to third order in the gauge coupling, while an iterative procedure for higher orders is proposed.
Based on the trace anomaly for the energy-momentum tensor, an effective theory for the thermodynamics of the deconfining phase, and by assuming the asymptotic behavior to be determined by one-loop perturbation theory we compute the nonperturbative beta function for the fundamental coupling $g$ in SU(2) and SU(3) Yang-Mills theory. With increasing temperature we observe a very rapid approach to the perturbative running. The Landau pole is nonperturbatively screened.
The existence or not of Landau poles is one of the oldest open questions in non-asymptotic quantum field theories. We investigate the Landau pole issue in two condensed matter systems whose long-wavelength physics is described by appropriate quantum field theories: the critical quantum magnet and Dirac fermions in graphene with long-range Coulomb interactions. The critical quantum magnet provides a classic example of a quantum phase transition, and it is well described by the $ϕ^4$ theory. We find that the irrelevant but symmetry-allowed couplings, such as the $ϕ^6$ potential, can significantl…
We consider massless Quantum Electrodynamics in momentum scheme and carry forward an approach based on Dyson-Schwinger equations to approximate both the $β$-function and the renormalized photon self-energy [Y11]. Starting from the Callan-Symanzik equation, we derive a renormalization group (RG) recursion identity which implies a non-linear ODE for the anomalous dimension and extract a sufficient but not necessary criterion for the existence of a Landau pole. This criterion implies a necessary condition for QED to have no such pole. Solving the differential equation exactly for a toy model case…
We investigate the infrared behaviour of gluon and ghost propagators in Landau gauge QCD by means of an exact renormalisation group equation. We explain how, in general, the infrared momentum structure of Green functions can be extracted within this approach. An optimisation procedure is devised to remove residual regulator dependences. In Landau gauge QCD this framework is used to determine the infrared leading terms of the propagators. The results support the Kugo-Ojima confinement scenario. Possible extensions are discussed.
The high-energy limit of gauge-theory amplitudes features both a Regge pole and Regge cuts. We show how to disentangle these, and hence how to determine the Regge trajectory beyond two loops. While the nonplanar part of multiple Reggeon $t$-channel exchange forms a Regge cut, the planar part contributes to the pole along with the single Reggeon. With this, we find that the infrared singularities of the trajectory are given by the cusp anomalous dimension. By matching to recent QCD results, we determine the quark and gluon impact factors to two loops and the Regge trajectory to three loops.
We investigate a lattice version of QED by numerical simulations. For the renormalized charge and mass we find results which are consistent with the renormalized charge vanishing in the continuum limit. A detailed study of the relation between bare and renormalized quantities reveals that the Landau pole lies in a region of parameter space which is made inaccessible by spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking.
We investigate a system of differential equations for the beta function of massless scalar $ϕ^4$ theory and continue the combinatorial investigation of the cut structure of Feynman diagrams.
Starting from the lattice Landau gauge gluon and ghost propagator data we use a sequence of Padé approximants, identify the poles and zeros for each approximant and map them into the analytic structure of the propagators. For the Landau gauge gluon propagator the Padé analysis identifies a pair of complex conjugate poles and a branch cut along the negative real axis of the Euclidean $p^2$ momenta. For the Landau gauge ghost propagator the Padé analysis shows a single pole at $p^2 = 0$ and a branch cut also along the negative real axis of the Euclidean $p^2$ momenta. The method gives precise es…
Our understanding of quantum gravity suggests that at the Planck scale the usual geometry loses its meaning. If so, the quest for grand unification in a large non-abelian group naturally endowed with the property of asymptotic freedom may also lose its motivation. Instead we propose an unification of all fundamental interactions at the Planck scale in the form of a Universal Landau Pole (ULP), at which all gauge couplings diverge. The Higgs quartic coupling also diverges while the Yukawa couplings vanish. The unification is achieved with the addition of fermions with vector gauge couplings com…
The non-equilibrium dynamics of a Yukawa theory with N fermions coupled to a scalar field is studied in the large N limit with the goal of comparing the dynamics predicted from the renormalization group improved effective potential to that obtained including the fermionic backreaction. The effective potential is of the Coleman-Weinberg type. Its renormalization group improvement is unbounded from below and features a Landau pole. When viewed self-consistently, the initial time singularity does not arise. The different regimes of the dynamics of the fully renormalized theory are studied both an…
We summarise an analysis of the infrared regime of Landau gauge QCD by means of a flow equation approach. The infrared behaviour of gluon and ghost propagators is evaluated. The results provide further evidence for the Kugo-Ojima confinement scenario. We also discuss their relation to results obtained with other functional methods as well as the lattice.
The features of the ordinary least squares method, which gives a possible way to a solution of the overdetermined systems of algebraic equations and allows to estimate the uncertainties of the obtained solutions, are considered. As the important physical example we define four-loop QCD coefficients in the dependence of the relation between pole and running heavy quarks masses on the number of light flavors, using the existing results of numerical supercomputer based calculations of the corresponding four-loop contributions at different fixed numbers of light flavors. Stability of the found sol…
The coupled system of the quark-gluon vertex and quark propagator Dyson-Schwinger equations (DSEs) is investigated within Landau gauge QCD. The aim is to get a deeper insight into the mechanisms of quark confinement and dynamical chiral symmetry breaking and into a possible relation between these two phenomena. To this end an earlier study is extended by improving systematically on the truncations imposed on the quark-gluon vertex DSE. A clear infrared enhancement for all tensor structures of the quark-gluon vertex is obtained.
The analytic structure of the 2 flavour full QCD lattice Landau gauge quark propagator is investigated with Padé approximants applied to its vector and scalar form factors. No poles at complex momentum are observed for the propagator. Moreover, there is clear evidence of a pole at real on-axis negative Euclidean momentum, i.e. for Minkowski type of momentum. %, with a positive residuum. This pole occurs at Euclidean momenta $p^2 \sim - 300$ MeV and it reproduces typical quark mass values used in phenomenological effective quark models. The Padé approximant analysis also gives hints on the pres…
We show that in 3-3-1 models the existence of a Landau-like pole in the coupling constant related to the $U(1)_X$ factor, $g_X$, in a certain value of $\sin^2θ_W $, arises only assuming that the condition to match the gauge coupling constants of the standard model, $g_{2L}$, with that of the 3-3-1 model, $g_{3L}$, is valid for all energies. However, if we impose that this matching condition is valid only at a given energy, say $μ= M_Z$, the pole arises when $\sin^2θ_X(μ_{LP})=1$, which is the only weak mixing angle in the models. The value of $μ_{LP} $ depends on the energy scales, $μ_m$ and $…
We apply the Local Composite Operator method to construct the three loop effective potential for the dimension two operator $\frac{1}{2} { A_μ^a }^2$ in the Landau gauge in Quantum Chromodynamics. For $SU(3)$ we show that the three loop value of the effective mass of the gluon is similar to the two loop estimates when the number of massless quarks is strictly less than five for $SU(3)$.
We study analytic structures of the gluon, quark, and ghost propagators in the Landau-gauge QCD and general properties from the existence of unusual singularities. First, we investigate analytic structures of the QCD propagators using the massive Yang-Mills model, in which the one-loop gluon and ghost propagators are in good agreement with the numerical lattice results in the Landau gauge. We find that both gluon and quark propagators in this model have complex poles that invalidate the usual spectral representation. Second, we discuss general properties of propagators in the presence of such …
A specific representation of the known one-loop EW correction to the relation between the pole and running $\msbar$-scheme masses of the top-quark through particle masses of the Standard Model is given within the Fleischer-Jegerlehner tadpole scheme, where the vacuum expectation value of the Higgs field is renormalized. The importance of taking into account both the EW and QCD effects in this relation in the considered case is emphasized. It is noted that the discard of the EW corrections leads to over $10\;{\rm{GeV}}$ shift in the difference between the pole and running $t$-quark masses. This…
Holography for UV-incomplete gauge theories is important but poorly understood. A paradigmatic example is $d=4$, $\mathcal{N}=4$ super Yang-Mills coupled to $N_f$ quark flavors, which possesses a Landau pole at a UV scale $Λ_{LP}$. The dual gravity solution exhibits a UV singularity at a finite proper distance along the holographic direction. Despite this, holographic renormalization can be fully implemented via analytic continuation to an AdS solution. The presence of a UV cut-off manifests itself in several interesting ways. At energies $E \ll Λ_{LP}$ no pathologies appear, as expected from …
Some features of the solutions to the truncated Dyson-Schwinger equations(DSEs) for the propagators of QCD in Landau gauge are summarized. In particular, the Kugo-Ojima confinement criterion is realized, and positivity of transverse gluons is manifestly violated in these solutions. In Landau gauge, the gluon-ghost vertex function offers a convenient possibility to define a nonperturbative running coupling. The infrared fixed point obtained from this coupling which determines the 2-point interactions of color-octet quark currents implies the existence of unphysical massless states which are nec…
We report on a study of the analytical structure of the Landau gauge gluon, ghost and quark propagators taken from lattice simulations using large physical volumes, to better access the IR region, and large gauge ensembles to reduce the statistical uncertainties. The investigation uses Padé approximants to look at poles and branch cuts for each of the propagators. For the gluon propagator we identify complex conjugate poles and a branch point. For the ghost propagator the procedure identifies a pole at zero momentum and a branch point for Minkowski-like momenta. The quark propagator appears to…
I analyze the IR fixed point structure of Landau gauge QCD. Precisely the fixed point with a strong kinematic singularity of the quark-gluon vertex that proved crucial for the recently proposed confinement mechanism in the quenched approximation is absent in dynamical QCD. Therefore, the IR singularities do not induce asymptotic quark confinement but the long-range interaction is screened by unquenching loops at scales of the order of the quark mass. This provides the prerequisite for a microscopic description of deconfinement and string breaking. The fixed points determine the qualitative for…
We determine the two loop correction to Gribov's mass gap equation for quantum chromodynamics in the Landau gauge in the MSbar scheme by computing the two loop correction to the horizon condition derived from Zwanziger's local renormalizable Lagrangian which incorporates the Gribov parameter. We verify that with the explicit result, the two loop ghost propagator is enchanced in the infrared.
Recently the quark-gluon vertex has been investigated in Landau gauge using a combined Dyson-Schwinger and nPI effective action approach. We present here a numerical analysis of a simpler system where the quarks have been replaced by charged scalar fields. We solve the coupled system of Dyson-Schwinger equations for the scalar propagator, the scalar-gluon vertex and the Yang-Mills propagators in a truncation related to earlier studies. The calculations have been performed for scalars both in the fundamental and the adjoint representation. A clear suppression of the Abelian diagram is found in …
In lattice QCD the computation of one-particle irreducible (1PI) Green's functions with a large number (> 2) of legs is a challenging task. Besides tuning the lattice spacing and volume to reduce finite size effects, the problems associated with the estimation of higher order moments via Monte Carlo methods and the extraction of 1PI from complete Green's functions are limitations of the method. Herein, we address these problems revisiting the calculation of the three gluon 1PI Green's function.
In Gribov-Zwanziger scenario of color confinement, Zwanziger proposed two types of horizon function in lattice Landau gauge, the first one and the second one of which foundation was discussed in detail. The second type horizon function is focussed on in the present study. Its derivation and the horizon condition are briefly reviewed along the line of Zwanziger, and it is also reviewed that this horizon condition and Kugo-Ojima color confinement criterion coincide in the continuum limit. In case of free boundary condition in contrast to periodic boundary condition, it was shown that the horizon…
We present first evidence for the Landau level structure of Dirac eigenmodes in full QCD for nonzero background magnetic fields, based on first principles lattice simulations using staggered quarks. Our approach involves the identification of the lowest Landau level modes in two dimensions, where topological arguments ensure a clear separation of these modes from energetically higher states, and an expansion of the full four-dimensional modes in the basis of these two-dimensional states. We evaluate various fermionic observables including the quark condensate and the spin polarization in this …
A solvable systematic truncation scheme for the Dyson-Schwinger equations of Euclidean QCD in Landau gauge is presented. It implements the Slavnov-Taylor identities for the three-gluon and ghost-gluon vertices, whereas irreducible four-gluon couplings as well as the gluon-ghost and ghost-ghost scattering kernels are neglected. The infrared behavior of gluon and ghost propagators is obtained analytically: The gluon propagator vanishes for small spacelike momenta whereas the ghost propagator diverges stronger than a massless particle pole. The numerical solutions are compared with recent lattice…
In Landau gauge QCD the infrared behavior of the propagator of transverse gluons can be analytically determined to be a power law from Dyson-Schwinger equations. This propagator clearly shows positivity violation, indicating the absence of the transverse gluons from the physical spectrum, i.e. gluon confinement. A simple analytic structure for the gluon propagator is proposed capturing all important features. We provide arguments that the Landau gauge quark propagator possesses a singularity on the real timelike axis. For this propagator we find a positive definite Schwinger function.
The non-perturbative BRST quartet mechanism in infrared Landau gauge QCD is presented. It is demonstrated that positivity violation for transverse gluons allows to identify the gluon's non-perturbative BRST quartet. To describe the respective BRST-daughter state a truncated Bethe-Salpeter equation for the gluon-ghost bound state is investigated. An analogous construction for quarks yields a truncated Bethe-Salpeter equation for the quark-ghost bound state. The gluon-ghost bound state equation in two space-time dimensions has been numerically solved.
Various features of the even order poles appearing in the S-matrices of simply-laced affine Toda field theories are analysed in some detail. In particular, the coefficients of first- and second-order singularities appearing in the Laurent expansion of the S-matrix around a general $2N^{\rm th}$ order pole are derived in a universal way using perturbation theory at one loop. We show how to cut loop diagrams contributing to the pole into particular products of tree-level graphs that depend on the on-shell geometry of the loop; in this way, we recover the coefficients of the Laurent expansion aro…
The infrared behaviour of QCD Green's functions in Landau gauge has been focus of intense study. Different non-perturbative approaches lead to a prediction in line with the conditions for confinement in local quantum field theory as spelled out in the Kugo-Ojima criterion. Detailed comparisons with lattice studies have revealed small but significant differences, however. But aren't we comparing apples with oranges when contrasting lattice Landau gauge simulations with these continuum results? The answer is yes, and we need to change that. We therefore propose a reformulation of Landau gauge on…
We report on the first self-consistent solution of the Dyson-Schwinger equation (DSE) for the three-gluon vertex. Based on earlier results for the propagators which match data from lattice Monte-Carlo simulations, we obtain results for the three-gluon vertex that are in very good agreement with available lattice data likewise. Feeding these results back into the propagator DSEs leads to some changes especially in the gluon propagator. These changes allow us to assess previously used models for the three-gluon vertex and to systematically estimate the influence of neglected two-loop diagrams wi…
A longstanding question in QCD is the origin of the mass gap in the Yang-Mills sector of QCD, i.e., QCD without quarks. In Landau gauge QCD this mass gap, and hence confinement, is encoded in a mass gap of the gluon propagator, which is found both in lattice simulations and with functional approaches. While functional methods are well suited to unravel the mechanism behind the generation of the mass gap, a fully satisfactory answer has not yet been found. In this work we solve the coupled Dyson-Schwinger equations for the ghost propagator, gluon propagator and three-gluon vertex. We corroborat…
We study the Landau-gauge Gribov ghost form-factor sigma(p^2) for SU(N) Yang-Mills theories in the d-dimensional case. We find a qualitatively different behavior for d=3,4 w.r.t. d=2. In particular, considering any (sufficiently regular) gluon propagator D(p^2) and the one-loop-corrected ghost propagator G(p^2), we prove in the 2d case that sigma(p^2) blows up in the infrared limit p -> 0 as -D(0)\ln(p^2). Thus, for d=2, the no-pole condition σ(p^2) < 1 (for p^2 > 0) can be satisfied only if D(0) = 0. On the contrary, in d=3 and 4, sigma(p^2) is finite also if D(0) > 0. The same results are ob…
Recently proposed by Battistel et al. "predictive formulation of the NJL model" is discussed and its connection with the differential regularization is noted. The principal problem of this formulation is a non-physical singularity (Landau pole) in meson propagators. A modification of the formulation, which is free of the Landau pole and conserves main features of the approach, is proposed.
A gauge-invariant reformulation of QCD in three spacetime dimensions is presented within a Hamiltonian formalism, extending previous work to include fermion fields in the adjoint and fundamental representations. A priori there are several ways to define the gauge-invariant versions of the fermions; a consistent prescription for choosing the fermionic variables is presented. The fermionic contribution to the volume element of the gauge orbit space and the gluonic mass-gap is computed exactly and this contribution is shown to be closely related to the mechanism for induction of Chern-Simons term…
The Landau-Khalatnikov-Fradkin transformations (LKFTs) represent an important tool for probing the gauge dependence of the correlation functions within the class of linear covariant gauges. Recently these transformations have been derived from first principles in the context of non-Abelian gauge theory (QCD) introducing a gauge invariant transverse gauge field expressible as an infinite power series in a Stueckelberg field. In this work we explicitly calculate the transformation for the gluon propagator, reproducing its dependence on the gauge parameter at the one loop level and elucidating th…
Non-perturbative formalism of the generalized effective action is used for deriving the Schwinger-Dyson equations. In order to clear the domain of integration in the functional integral from gauge copies a restriction to the Gribov horizon due to Zwanziger is implemented. In this approach an asymptotic behaviour of gluon propagator and propagator of the Faddeev-Popov ghosts at small momenta is studied. Such a behaviour is obtained as a result of solving coupled Schwinger-Dyson equations in zeroth and first-order approximation. The qualitative agreement of these results with the ones obtained b…
