The dynamical gluon mass in the massless bound-state formalism

We describe the phenomenon of dynamical gluon mass generation within the massless bound-state 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.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures. Talk presented at the QCD-TNT-III-From quarks and gluons to hadronic matter: A bridge too far? 2-6 September, 2013 - ECT* Trento, Ital

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Graduate Applie

Standard Model Engineering with Intersecting Branes

I briefly describe the recent construction of the first specific string D-brane models yielding just the SM massless fermion spectrum. One of the most remarkable facts predicted by these constructions is that the global symmetries of the SM like Baryon and Lepton numbers as well as the axial $U(1)_A$ are gauged symmetries whose anomalies are cancelled by a Green-Schwarz mechanism only in the case of three quark-lepton generations. Proton stability and the Dirac nature of neutrino masses are thus a prediction of these theories. This is work done in collaboration with Fernando Marchesano and Raul Rabadan.Comment: 10 pages, Latex file, no figures. Contribution to the proceedings of SUSY-01, Dubna (Russia), June 200

Topics in String Unification

I discuss several aspects of strings as unified theories. After recalling the difficulties of the simplest supersymmetric grand unification schemes I emphasize the distinct features of string unification. An important role in constraining the effective low energy physics from strings is played by $duality$ symmetries. The discussed topics include the unification of coupling constants (computation of $\sin ^2\theta _W$ and $\alpha _s$ at the weak scale), supersymmetry breaking through gaugino condensation, and properties of the induced SUSY-breaking soft terms. I remark that departures from universality in the soft terms are (in contrast to the minimal SUSY model) generically expected.Comment: 22 pages. Talk given at the ``Workshop on Electroweak Physics Beyond the Standard Model'', Valencia, 3-5 October 199