The dynamical gluon mass in the massless bound-state formalism

Abstract

We describe the phenomenon of dynamical gluon mass generation within the massless boundstate formalism, which constitutes the general framework for the systematic implementation of the Schwinger mechanism in non-Abelian gauge theories. The main ingredient of this formalism is the dynamical formation of bound states with vanishing mass, which gives rise to effective vertices containing massless poles; these vertices, in turn, trigger the Schwinger mechanism, and allow for the gauge-invariant generation of an effective gluon mass. In this particular approach, the gluon mass is directly related to quantities that are intrinsic to the bound-state formation itself, such as the “transition amplitude” and the corresponding “bound-state wave-function”. Specifically, a set of powerful relations discussed in the text, allows one to determine the dynamical evolution of the gluon mass through a Bethe-Salpeter equation, which controls the dynamics of the relevant wave-function. In addition, it is possible to demonstrate that the massless bound-state formalism is equivalent to the standard approach based on Schwinger-Dyson equations, thus establishing a formal connection between two different nonperturbative formalisms.