Propagator In Landau Gauge Research Articles

Position-space gluon propagator from quenched lattice QCD

We report novel lattice QCD results for the position-space gluon propagator in Landau gauge from quenched simulations. Using standard Wilson action, we computed gluon propagator in position space with a detailed treatment of hypercubic errors. Gluon propagator is scrutinized in position-space, discussing on the usefulness of the long-distance behavior of gluon propagator for constraining the gluon spectral function or the deep infrared running of the gluon propagator in momentum-space.

Deconfinement in pure gauge SU(3) Yang-Mills theory: the ghost propagator

The ghost propagator in Landau gauge is studied at finite temperature below and above Tc using lattice QCD simulations. For high temperatures, we find that the ghost propagator is enhanced, compared to the confined phase. The results suggest that the ghost propagator can be used to identify the phase transition, similarly to the gluon propagator case.

Yang-Mills propagators in linear covariant gauges from Nielsen identities

We calculate gluon and ghost propagators in Yang-Mills theory in linear covariant gauges. To that end, we utilize Nielsen identities with Landau gauge propagators and vertices as the starting point. We present and discuss numerical results for the gluon and ghost propagators for values of the gauge parameter $0<\xi \le 5$. Extrapolating the propagators to $\xi \to \infty $ we find the expected qualitative behavior. We provide arguments that our results are quantitatively reliable at least for values $\xi\lesssim 1/2$ of the gauge fixing parameter. It is shown that the correlation functions, and in particular the ghost propagator, change significantly with increasing gauge parameter. In turn, the ghost-gluon running coupling as well as the position of the zero crossing of the Schwinger function of the gluon propagator remain within the uncertainties of our calculation unchanged.

Scattering amplitudes and the double copy in topologically massive theories

Using the principles of the modern scattering amplitudes programme, we develop a formalism for constructing the amplitudes of three-dimensional topologically massive gauge theories and gravity. Inspired by recent developments in four dimensions, we construct the three-dimensional equivalent of x-variables, first defined in [1], for conserved matter currents coupled to topologically massive gauge bosons or gravitons. Using these, we bootstrap various matter-coupled gauge-theory and gravitational scattering amplitudes, and conjecture that topologically massive gauge theory and topologically massive gravity are related by the double copy. To motivate this idea further, we show explicitly that the Landau gauge propagator on the gauge theory side double copies to the de Donder gauge propagator on the gravity side.

Modeling the gluon and ghost propagators in Landau gauge by truncated Dyson-Schwinger equations

We suggest a framework based on the rainbow approximation with effective parameters adjusted to lattice data. The analytic structure of the gluon and ghost propagators of QCD in Landau gauge is analyzed by means of numerical solutions of the coupled system of truncated Dyson-Schwinger equations. We find that the gluon and ghost dressing functions are singular in complex Euclidean space with singularities as isolated pairwise conjugated poles. These poles hamper solving numerically the Bethe-Salpeter equation for glueballs as bound states of two interacting dressed gluons. Nevertheless, we argue that, by knowing the position of the poles and their residues, a reliable algorithm for numerical solving the Bethe-Salpeter equation can be established.

Discretization effects on renormalized gauge-field Green’s functions, scale setting, and the gluon mass

The $SU(3)$ gauge-field propagators computed from the lattice have been exhaustively used in the investigation of the low-momentum dynamics of QCD, in a judicious interplay with results from other nonperturbative approaches, and for the extraction of fundamental parameters of QCD like $\Lambda_{\overline{\rm MS}}$ as well. The impact of the discretization artifacts and their role in the extrapolation of the results to the continuum limit have not been fully understood so far. We report here about a very careful analysis of the physical scaling violation of the Landau-gauge propagators renormalized in MOM scheme and the Taylor coupling, steering us towards an insightful understanding of the effects from discretization artifacts which makes therefore possible a reliable continuum-limit extrapolation.

Reconstructing the gluon

We reconstruct the gluon spectral function in Landau gauge QCD from numerical data for the gluon propagator. The reconstruction relies on two novel ingredients: Firstly we derive analytically the low frequency asymptotics of the spectral function. Secondly we construct a functional basis from a careful consideration of the analytic properties of the gluon propagator in Landau gauge. This allows us to reliably capture the non-perturbative regime of the gluon spectrum. We also compare different reconstruction methods and discuss the respective systematic errors.

Gluon propagator on a center-vortex background

The impact of $SU(3)$ center vortices on the gluon propagator in Landau gauge is investigated on original, vortex-removed and vortex-only lattice gauge field configurations. Vortex identification is found to partition the gluon propagator into short-range strength on the vortex-removed configurations and long-range strength on the vortex-only configurations. The effect of smoothing vortex-only configurations is also studied, and a regime for recovering the form of the smoothed original propagator from vortex-only configurations is introduced. The results reinforce the significance of center vortices in a fundamental understanding of QCD vacuum structure.

Second order gluon polarization for SU(N) theory in a linear covariant gauge

The gluon polarization functional is evaluated for a generic linear covariant gauge and for any space dimension in pure Yang-Mills SU(N) theory up to second order in a generalized perturbation theory, where the zeroth order action is freely chosen and can be determined by some variational method. Some numerical data are given for the gluon propagator in Landau gauge and compared with Feynmann gauge. A comparison is given for several variational methods that can be set up by the knowledge of the second-order polarization.

Phase transitions and gluodynamics in 2-colour matter at high density

We investigate 2-colour QCD with 2 flavours of Wilson fermion at nonzero temperature T and quark chemical potential mu, with a pion mass of 700 MeV (m_pi/m_rho=0.8). From temperature scans at fixed mu we find that the critical temperature for the superfluid to normal transition depends only very weakly on mu above the onset chemical potential, while the deconfinement crossover temperature is clearly decreasing with mu. We find indications of a region of superfluid but deconfined matter at high mu and intermediate T. The static quark potential determined from the Wilson loop is found to exhibit a 'string tension' that increases at large mu in the 'deconfined' region. The electric (longitudinal) gluon propagator in Landau gauge becomes strongly screened with increasing temperature and chemical potential. The magnetic (transverse) gluon shows little sensitivity to temperature, and exhibits a mild enhancement at intermediate mu before becoming suppressed at large mu.

The chirally improved quark propagator and restoration of chiral symmetry

The chirally improved (CI) quark propagator in Landau gauge is calculated in two flavor lattice Quantum Chromodynamics. Its wave-function renormalization function Z(p2) and mass function M(p2) are studied. To minimize lattice artifacts, tree-level improvement of the propagator and tree-level correction of the lattice dressing functions is applied. Subsequently the CI quark propagator under Dirac operator low-mode removal is investigated. The dynamically generated mass in the infrared domain of the mass function is found to dissolve continuously as a function of the reduction level and strong suppression of Z(p2) for small momenta is observed.

Role of center vortices in chiral symmetry breaking in SU(3) gauge theory

We study the behavior of the AsqTad quark propagator in Landau gauge on SU(3) Yang-Mills gauge configurations under the removal of center vortices. In SU(2) gauge theory, center vortices have been observed to generate chiral symmetry breaking and dominate the infrared behavior of the quark propagator. In contrast, we report a weak dependence on the vortex content of the gauge configurations, including the survival of dynamical mass generation on configurations with vanishing string tension.

Dynamical Mass Generation and Confinement in Maxwell-Chern-Simons Planar Quantum Electrodynamics

We study the non-perturbative phenomena of Dynamical Mass Generation and Confinement by truncating at the non-perturbative level the Schwinger-Dyson equations in Maxwell-Chern-Simons planar quantum electrodynamics. We obtain numerical solutions for the fermion propagator in Landau gauge within the so-called rainbow approximation. A comparison with the ordinary theory without the Chern-Simons term is presented.

On the gauge-algebra dependence of Landau-gauge Yang-Mills propagators

Yang-Mills theory can be formulated for any semi-simple Lie algebra, and thus any semi-simple Lie group. In principle, the dynamics could be different for each one. However, functional studies predict that the propagators in Landau gauge depend only quantitatively on the gauge algebra. In particular, genuine non-perturbative effects should be present even in the large N-limit for su(N) gauge algebras. Lattice gauge theory is used to investigate this in detail. The propagators are determined for the gauge groups SU(2), SU(3), SU(4), SU(5), SU(6) and G2, in two and three dimensions. In accordance with the prediction no qualitative dependence on the gauge group is found. In particular, no diminishing of non-perturbative contributions is found for N becoming large in the SU(N) case. Quantitative effects are found, and analyzed in detail.

Two-point functions of quenched lattice QCD in Numerical Stochastic Perturbation Theory. (II) The gluon propagator in Landau gauge

This is the second of two papers devoted to the perturbative computation of the ghost and gluon propagators in SU ( 3 ) Lattice Gauge Theory. Such a computation should enable a comparison with results from lattice simulations in order to reveal the genuinely non-perturbative content of the latter. The gluon propagator is computed by means of Numerical Stochastic Perturbation Theory: results range from two up to four loops, depending on the different lattice sizes. The non-logarithmic constants for one, two and three loops are extrapolated to the lattice spacing a → 0 continuum and infinite volume V → ∞ limits.

Two-point functions of quenched Lattice QCD in Numerical Stochastic Perturbation Theory. (I) The ghost propagator in Landau gauge

This is the first of a series of two papers on the perturbative computation of the ghost and gluon propagators in SU ( 3 ) Lattice Gauge Theory. Our final aim is to eventually compare with results from lattice simulations in order to enlight the genuinely non-perturbative content of the latter. By means of Numerical Stochastic Perturbation Theory we compute the ghost propagator in Landau gauge up to three loops. We present results in the infinite volume and a → 0 limits, based on a general strategy that we discuss in detail.

Stout-link smearing in lattice fermion actions

The properties of the momentum space quark propagator in Landau gauge are studied for the overlap quark action in quenched lattice QCD. Numerical calculations are performed over four ensembles of gauge configurations, where three are smeared using either 1, 3, or 6 sweeps of stout-link smearing. We calculate the non-perturbative wave function renormalization function $Z(p)$ and the non-perturbative mass function $M(p)$ for a variety of bare quark masses. We find that the wave-function renormalization function is slightly sensitive to the number of stout-link smearing sweeps. For the mass function we find the effect of the stout-link smearing algorithm to be small for moderate to light bare quark masses. For a heavy bare quark mass we find a strong dependence on the number of smearing sweeps.

Infrared gluon and ghost propagator exponents from lattice QCD

The compatibility of the pure power law infrared solution of QCD and lattice data for the gluon and ghost propagators in Landau gauge is discussed. For the gluon propagator, the lattice data are well described by a pure power law with an infrared exponent κ∼0.53, in the Dyson–Schwinger notation. κ is measured using a technique that suppresses finite volume effects. This value is consistent with a vanishing zero momentum gluon propagator, in agreement with the Gribov–Zwanziger confinement scenario. For the ghost propagator, the lattice data seem not to follow a pure power law, at least for the range of momenta accessed in our simulation.

Center vortices and the quark propagator in SU(2) gauge theory

We study the behavior of the AsqTad quark propagator in Landau gauge on quenched SU(2) gauge configurations under the removal of center vortices. In contrast to recent results in SU(3), we clearly see the infrared enhancement of the mass function disappear if center vortices are removed, a sign of the intimate relation between center vortices and chiral symmetry breaking in SU(2) gauge-field theory. These results provide a benchmark with which to interpret the SU(3) results. In addition, we consider vortex-only configurations. On those, the quark dressing function behaves roughly as on the full configurations, and the mass function picks up an almost linear momentum dependence.

Unquenched Effects and Quark Mass Dependence of Lattice Gluon Propagator in Infrared Region

In this paper, the gluon propagator in Landau gauge has been studied on a lattice, including the quenched and the unquenched one. The small geometry size of lattice we use is 163 × 32, and the big one is 203 × 64. For the quenched approximation, we fit the numerical results and give a little different fitting values. We also obtain unquenched effects by comparing the gluon propagator resulting from the quenched and unquenched configurations, for both the two-flavor and three-flavor cases. For the unquenched configurations, an obvious quark mass dependence has not been found in the small quark mass case, but is found in the three-flavor case when the quark mass is big.