Low-energy QCD and ultraviolet renormalons

Abstract

We discuss the contribution of ultraviolet (UV) renormalons in QCD to two-point functions of quark current operators. This explicitly includes effects due to the exchange of one renormalon chain as well as two chains. It is shown that, when the external Euclidean momentum of the two-point functions becomes smaller than the scale AL associated with the Landau singularity of the QCD one-loop running coupling constant, the positions of the UV renormalons in the Borel plane become true singularities in the integration range of the Bore] transform. This introduces ambiguities in the evaluation of the corresponding two-point functions. The ambiguities associated with the leading UV renormalon singularity are of the same type as the contribution due to the inclusion of dimension d = 6 local operators in a low-energy effective Lagrangian valid at scales smaller than AL. We then discuss the inclusion of an infinite number of renormalon chains and argue that the previous ambiguity hints at a plausible approximation scheme for low-energy QCD, resulting in an effective Lagrangian similar to the one of the extended Nambu-Jona-Lasinio (ENJL) model of QCD at large N c .