Two- and three-point Green's functions in two-dimensional Landau-gauge Yang-Mills theory

The ghost and gluon propagator and the ghost-gluon and three-gluon vertex of two-dimensional SU(2) Yang-Mills theory in (minimal) Landau gauge are studied using lattice gauge theory. It is found that the results are qualitatively similar to the ones in three and four dimensions. The propagators and the Faddeev-Popov operator behave as expected from the Gribov-Zwanziger scenario. In addition, finite volume effects affecting these Green's functions are investigated systematically. The critical infrared exponents of the propagators, as proposed in calculations using stochastic quantization and Dyson-Schwinger equations, are confirmed quantitatively. For this purpose lattices of volume up to (42.7 fm)^2 have been used.Comment: 14 pages, 14 figures, 4 tables, references adde

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.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figure

Two loop QCD vertices at the symmetric point

We compute the triple gluon, quark-gluon and ghost-gluon vertices of QCD at the symmetric subtraction point at two loops in the MSbar scheme. In addition we renormalize each of the three vertices in their respective momentum subtraction schemes, MOMggg, MOMq and MOMh. The conversion functions of all the wave functions, coupling constant and gauge parameter renormalization constants of each of the schemes relative to MSbar are determined analytically. These are then used to derive the three loop anomalous dimensions of the gluon, quark, Faddeev-Popov ghost and gauge parameter as well as the beta-function in an arbitrary linear covariant gauge for each MOM scheme. There is good agreement of the latter with earlier Landau gauge numerical estimates of Chetyrkin and Seidensticker.Comment: 36 latex pages, anc directory contains txt file with anomalous dimensions, beta-functions, coupling constant mappings, conversion functions and amplitudes in analytic for

More on Gribov copies and propagators in Landau-gauge Yang-Mills theory

Fixing a gauge in the non-perturbative domain of Yang-Mills theory is a non-trivial problem due to the presence of Gribov copies. In particular, there are different gauges in the non-perturbative regime which all correspond to the same definition of a gauge in the perturbative domain. Gauge-dependent correlation functions may differ in these gauges. Two such gauges are the minimal and absolute Landau gauge, both corresponding to the perturbative Landau gauge. These, and their numerical implementation, are described and presented in detail. Other choices will also be discussed. This investigation is performed, using numerical lattice gauge theory calculations, by comparing the propagators of gluons and ghosts for the minimal Landau gauge and the absolute Landau gauge in SU(2) Yang-Mills theory. It is found that the propagators are different in the far infrared and even at energy scales of the order of half a GeV. In particular, also the finite-volume effects are modified. This is observed in two and three dimensions. Some remarks on the four-dimensional case are provided as well.Comment: 23 pages, 16 figures, 6 tables; various changes throughout most of the paper; extended discussion on different possibilities to define the Landau gauge and connection to existing scenarios; in v3: Minor changes, error in eq. (3) & (4) corrected, version to appear in PR

A brief comment on the similarities of the IR solutions for the ghost propagator DSE in Landau and Coulomb gauges

This brief note is devoted to reconcile the conclusions from a recent analysis of the IR solutions for the ghost propagator Dyson-Schwinger equations in Coulomb gauge with previous studies in Landau gauge.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

The running coupling from the four-gluon vertex in Landau gauge Yang-Mills theory

We consider the running coupling from the four-gluon vertex in Landau gauge, SU($N_c$) Yang-Mills theory as given by a combination of dressing functions of the vertex and the gluon propagator. We determine these functions numerically from a coupled set of Dyson-Schwinger equations. We reproduce asymptotic freedom in the ultraviolet momentum region and find a coupling of order one at mid-momenta. In the infrared we find a nontrivial (i.e. nonzero) fixed point which is three orders of magnitude smaller than the corresponding fixed point in the coupling of the ghost-gluon vertex. This result explains why the Dyson-Schwinger and the functional renormalization group equations for the two point functions can agree in the infrared, although their structure is quite different. Our findings also support Zwanziger's notion of an infrared effective theory driven by the Faddeev-Popov determinant.Comment: 25 pages, 4 figures; v2: minor clarifications added and typos corrected, version accepted by PR

Constraints on the IR behavior of the gluon propagator in Yang-Mills theories

We present rigorous upper and lower bounds for the zero-momentum gluon propagator D(0) of Yang-Mills theories in terms of the average value of the gluon field. This allows us to perform a controlled extrapolation of lattice data to infinite volume, showing that the infrared limit of the Landau-gauge gluon propagator in SU(2) gauge theory is finite and nonzero in three and in four space-time dimensions. In the two-dimensional case we find D(0) = 0, in agreement with Ref. [1]. We suggest an explanation for these results. We note that our discussion is general, although we only apply our analysis to pure gauge theory in Landau gauge. Simulations have been performed on the IBM supercomputer at the University of Sao Paulo.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl

The influence of Gribov copies on the gluon and ghost propagator

The dependence of the gluon and ghost propagator in pure SU(3) gauge theory on the choice of Gribov copies in Landau gauge is studied. Simulations were performed on several lattice sizes at $\beta$=5.8, 6.0 and 6.2. In the infrared region the ghost propagator turns out to depend on the choice, while the impact on the gluon propagator is not resolvable. Also the eigenvalue distribution of the Faddeev-Popov operator is sensitive to Gribov copies.Comment: Talk presented at Quark Confinement and the Hadron Spectrum VI, Villasimius, Sardinia, Italy, September 21-25, 2004, 3 pages, 2 figure

Goldstone bosons and fermions in QCD

We consider the version of QCD in Euclidean Landau gauge in which the restriction to the Gribov region is implemented by a local, renormalizable action. This action depends on the Gribov parameter $\gamma$, with dimensions of (mass)$^4$, whose value is fixed in terms of $\Lambda_{QCD}$, by the gap equation, known as the horizon condition, {\p \Gamma \over \p \gamma} = 0, where $\Gamma$ is the quantum effective action. The restriction to the Gribov region suppresses gluons in the infrared, which nicely explains why gluons are not in the physical spectrum, but this only makes makes more mysterious the origin of the long-range force between quarks. In the present article we exhibit the symmetries of $\Gamma$, and show that the solution to the gap equation, which defines the classical vacuum, spontaneously breaks some of the symmetries $\Gamma$. This implies the existence of massless Goldstone bosons and fermions that do not appear in the physical spectrum. Some of the Goldstone bosons may be exchanged between quarks, and are candidates for a long-range confining force. As an exact result we also find that in the infrared limit the gluon propagator vanishes like $k^2$.Comment: 22 pages, typos corrected, improved comparison with lattice dat

Lattice gluodynamics computation of Landau-gauge Green's functions in the deep infrared

We present recent results for the Landau-gauge gluon and ghost propagators in SU(3) lattice gluodynamics obtained on a sequence of lattices with linear extension ranging from L=64 to L=96 at $\beta = 5.70$, thus reaching "deep infrared" momenta down to 75 MeV. Our gauge-fixing procedure essentially uses a simulated annealing technique which allows us to reach gauge-functional values closer to the global maxima than standard approaches do. Our results are consistent with the so-called decoupling solutions found for Dyson-Schwinger and functional renormalization group equations.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures. References added, minor changes to match published versio