Modified Lattice Landau Gauge

We propose a modified lattice Landau gauge based on stereographically projecting the link variables on the circle S^1 -> R for compact U(1) or the 3-sphere S^3 -> R^3 for SU(2) before imposing the Landau gauge condition. This can reduce the number of Gribov copies exponentially and solves the Gribov problem in compact U(1) where it is a lattice artifact. Applied to the maximal Abelian subgroup this might be just enough to avoid the perfect cancellation amongst the Gribov copies in a lattice BRST formulation for SU(N), and thus to avoid the Neuberger 0/0 problem. The continuum limit of the Landau gauge remains unchanged.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, for the proceedings of the XXV International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, July 30 - August 4 2007, Regensburg, German

Extended Double Lattice BRST, Curci-Ferrari Mass and the Neuberger Problem

We present Extended Double BRST on the lattice and extend the Neuberger problem to include the ghost/anti-ghost symmetric formulation of the non-linear covariant Curci-Ferrari (CF) gauges. We then show how a CF mass regulates the 0/0 indeterminate form of physical observables, as observed by Neuberger, and discuss the gauge-parameter and mass dependence of the model.Comment: Prepared for 7th Conference on Quark Confinement and the Hadron Spectrum, Ponta Delgada, Azores, Portugal, 2-7 Sep 2006. 3p

Comparing SU(2) to SU(3) gluodynamics on large lattices

We study the SU(2) gluon and ghost propagators in Landau gauge on lattices up to a size of 112^4. A comparison with the SU(3) case is made and finite-volume effects are then investigated. We find that for a large range of momenta the SU(2) and SU(3) propagators are remarkably alike. In the low-momentum region we compare with recent results obtained in DSE studies on a 4-torus.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, poster presented at the XXV International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, July 30 - August 4 2007, Regensburg, German

Infrared behavior and Gribov ambiguity in SU(2) lattice gauge theory

For SU(2) lattice gauge theory we study numerically the infrared behavior of the Landau gauge ghost and gluon propagators with the special accent on the Gribov copy dependence. Applying a very efficient gauge fixing procedure and generating up to 80 gauge copies we find that the Gribov copy effect for both propagators is essential in the infrared. In particular, our best copy dressing function of the ghost propagator approaches a plateau in the infrared, while for the random first copy it still grows. Our best copy zero-momentum gluon propagator shows a tendency to decrease with growing lattice size which excludes singular solutions. Our results look compatible with the so-called decoupling solution with a non-singular gluon propagator. However, we do not yet consider the Gribov copy problem to be finally resolved.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure

The Gribov parameter and the dimension two gluon condensate in Euclidean Yang-Mills theories in the Landau gauge

The local composite operator A^2 is added to the Zwanziger action, which implements the restriction to the Gribov region in Euclidean Yang-Mills theories in the Landau gauge. We prove the renormalizability of this action to all orders of perturbation theory. This allows to study the dimension two gluon condensate by the local composite operator formalism when the restriction is taken into account. The effective action is evaluated at one-loop order in the MSbar scheme. We obtain explicit values for the Gribov parameter and for the mass parameter due to , but the expansion parameter turns out to be rather large. Furthermore, an optimization of the perturbative expansion in order to reduce the dependence on the renormalization scheme is performed. The properties of the vacuum energy, with or without , are investigated. It is shown that in the original Gribov-Zwanziger formulation (without ), the vacuum energy is always positive at 1-loop order, independently from the renormalization scheme and scale. With , we are unable to come to a definite conclusion at the order considered. In the MSbar scheme, we still find a positive vacuum energy, again with a relatively large expansion parameter, but there are renormalization schemes in which the vacuum energy is negative, albeit the dependence on the scheme itself appears to be strong. We recover the well known consequences of the restriction, and this in the presence of : an infrared suppression of the gluon propagator and an enhancement of the ghost propagator. This behaviour is in qualitative agreement with the results obtained from the studies of the Schwinger-Dyson equations and from lattice simulations.Comment: 42 pages, 10 .eps figures. v2: Version accepted for publication in Phys.Rev.D. Added references. Technical details have been collected in two appendice

Yang-Mills Theory in lambda-Gauges

The gauge-independent phenomenon of color confinement in Yang-Mills theory manifests itself differently in different gauges. Therefore, the gauge dependence of quantities related to the infrared structure of the theory becomes important for understanding the confinement mechanism. Particularly useful are classes of gauges that are controlled by a single gauge parameter. We present results on propagators and the color-Coulomb potential for the so-called lambda-gauges, which interpolate between the (minimal) Landau gauge and the (minimal complete) Coulomb gauge. Results are reported for the SU(2) lattice gauge theory in three and four space-time dimensions. We investigate especially intermediate and low momenta. We find a continuous evolution of all quantities with the gauge parameter, except at zero four-momentum.Comment: 17 pages, 13 figures, 3 table

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

The Gluon Propagator without lattice Gribov copies

We study the gluon propagator in quenched lattice QCD using the Laplacian gauge which is free of lattice Gribov copies. We compare our results with those obtained in the Landau gauge on the lattice, as well as with various approximate solutions of the Dyson Schwinger equations. We find a finite value $\sim (445 \rm{MeV})^{-2}$ for the renormalized zero-momentum propagator (taking our renormalization point at 1.943 GeV), and a pole mass $\sim 640 \pm 140$ MeV.Comment: Discussion of the renormalized gluon propagator and of the Laplacian gauge fixing procedure extended. Version to appear in Phys. Rev. D. 15 pages, 8 figure

Minimizing Higgs Potentials via Numerical Polynomial Homotopy Continuation

The study of models with extended Higgs sectors requires to minimize the corresponding Higgs potentials, which is in general very difficult. Here, we apply a recently developed method, called numerical polynomial homotopy continuation (NPHC), which guarantees to find all the stationary points of the Higgs potentials with polynomial-like nonlinearity. The detection of all stationary points reveals the structure of the potential with maxima, metastable minima, saddle points besides the global minimum. We apply the NPHC method to the most general Higgs potential having two complex Higgs-boson doublets and up to five real Higgs-boson singlets. Moreover the method is applicable to even more involved potentials. Hence the NPHC method allows to go far beyond the limits of the Gr\"obner basis approach.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure