arXiv subjects

Axel Maas

Publications and source records attributed to Axel Maas.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

arXiv2009

On the infrared behavior of Landau gauge Yang-Mills theory

We discuss the properties of ghost and gluon propagators in the deep infrared momentum region of Landau gauge Yang-Mills theory. Within the framework of Dyson-Schwinger equations and the functional renormalization group we demonstrate that it is only a matter of infrared boundary conditions whether infrared scaling or decoupling occurs. We argue that the second possibility is at odds with global BRST symmetry in the confining phase. For this purpose we improve upon existing truncation schemes in particular with respect to transversality and renormalization.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2009

Fermionic boundary conditions and the finite temperature transition of QCD

Finite temperature lattice QCD is probed by varying the temporal boundary conditions of the fermions. We develop the emerging physical behavior in a study of the quenched case and subsequently present first results for a fully dynamical calculation comparing ensembles below and above the phase transition. We show that for low temperature spectral quantities of the Dirac operator are insensitive to boundary conditions, while in the deconfined phase a non-trivial response to a variation of the boundary conditions sets in.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2009

Truncating first-order Dyson-Schwinger equations in Coulomb-Gauge Yang-Mills theory

The non-perturbative domain of QCD contains confinement, chiral symmetry breaking, and the bound state spectrum. For the calculation of the latter, the Coulomb gauge is particularly well-suited. Access to these non-perturbative properties should be possible by means of the Green's functions. However, Coulomb gauge is also very involved, and thus hard to tackle. We introduce a novel BRST-type operator r, and show that the left-hand side of Gauss' law is r-exact. We investigate a possible truncation scheme of the Dyson-Schwinger equations in first-order formalism for the propagators based on an instantaneous approximation. We demonstrate that this is insufficient to obtain solutions with the expected property of a linear-rising Coulomb potential. We also show systematically that a class of possible vertex dressings does not change this result.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2009

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.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2009

Chiral symmetry and spectral properties of the Dirac operator in G2 Yang-Mills Theory

We study spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking and the spectral properties of the staggered lattice Dirac operator using quenched gauge configurations for the exceptional group G2, which has a trivial center. In particular we study the system below and above the finite temperature transition and use the temporal boundary conditions of the fermions to probe the system. We evaluate several observables: The spectral density at the origin, the spectral gap, the chiral condensate and the recently proposed dual chiral condensate. We show that chiral symmetry is broken at low temperatures and is restored at high temperatures at the thermodynamic phase transition. Concerning the role of the boundary conditions we establish that in all respects the spectral quantities behave for G2 in exactly the same way as for SU(N), when for the latter group the gauge ensemble above T_c is restricted to the sector of configurations with real Polyakov loop.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2008

Aspects of confinement from QCD correlation functions

We discuss the properties of ghost and gluon propagators in Landau gauge Yang-Mills theory and their relation to the confinement problem. In general two types of infrared behavior of these functions are allowed from their functional equations: scaling and decoupling. Both solutions show positivity violations in the gluon propagator and lead to a confining Polyakov loop potential. However, only the scaling solution agrees with the Kugo-Ojima confinement scenario and the related formulation of a physical Hilbert space of Yang-Mills theory. Our numerical results for the gluon dressing function agree almost pointwise with the lattice results at all physical momenta.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2008

Green's Functions and Topological Configurations

There are, among others, currently two important views on the non-perturbative structure of Yang-Mills theory. One is through topological configurations and one is through Green's functions, in particular their (asymptotic) infrared behavior. Based on both views, various scenarios for confinement, chiral symmetry breaking and other non-perturbative effects have been developed. However, if both views are correct then they can only be different aspects of the same underlying physics, and it must be possible to relate them. After discussing the current status of the understanding of this connection, smeared and cooled configurations in lattice gauge theory are used to determine the properties of Green's functions in the low-momentum regime. It is found that the qualitative properties are essentially unchanged compared to results on unsmeared configurations. This is also the case when the configurations are smeared sufficiently strongly to reach the almost (anti-)self-dual domain.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2008

Infrared Propagators in MAG and Feynman gauge on the lattice

We propose to investigate infrared properties of gluon and ghost propagators related to the so-called Gribov-Zwanziger confinement scenario, originally formulated for Landau and Coulomb gauges, for other gauges as well. We present results of our investigation of SU(2) lattice gauge theory in the maximally Abelian gauge (MAG), focusing on the behavior of propagators in the off-diagonal (i.e. non-Abelian) sector. We also comment on our preliminary results for general linear covariant gauges, in particular for Feynman gauge.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2008

Linear Covariant Gauges on the Lattice

Linear covariant gauges, such as Feynman gauge, are very useful in perturbative calculations. Their nonperturbative formulation is, however, highly non-trivial. In particular, it is a challenge to define linear covariant gauges on a lattice. We consider a class of gauges in lattice gauge theory that coincides with the perturbative definition of linear covariant gauges in the formal continuum limit. The corresponding gauge-fixing procedure is described and analyzed in detail, with an application to the pure SU(2) case. In addition, results for the gluon propagator in the two-dimensional case are given.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2008

Three-point vertices in Landau-gauge Yang-Mills theory

Vertices are of central importance for constructing QCD bound states out of the individual constituents of the theory, i.e. quarks and gluons. In particular, the determination of three-point vertices is crucial in non-perturbative investigations of QCD. We use numerical simulations of lattice gauge theory to obtain results for the 3-point vertices in Landau-gauge SU(2) Yang-Mills theory in three and four space-time dimensions for various kinematic configurations. In all cases considered, the ghost-gluon vertex is found to be essentially tree-level-like, while the three-gluon vertex is suppressed at intermediate momenta. For the smallest physical momenta, reachable only in three dimensions, we find that some of the three-gluon-vertex tensor structures change sign.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2007

A first look at Landau-gauge propagators in G2 Yang-Mills theory

G_2 Yang--Mills theory is an interesting laboratory to investigate non-perturbative effects. On one hand, no conventional quark confinement via a linearly rising potential is present. On the other hand, its thermodynamic properties are similar to ordinary SU(N) Yang--Mills theory. Finally, it has been conjectured that gluons are removed from the physical spectrum in the same way as in SU(N) Yang--Mills theory. The last claim will be explored by determining the Landau-gauge ghost and gluon propagators, as well as the Faddeev--Popov operator eigenspectrum, in G_2 lattice gauge theory in two and three dimensions. The results are found to agree qualitatively with the SU(2) and SU(3) case. Therefore, the conjecture that Yang--Mills theories with different gauge groups are qualitatively similar on the level of their Landau gauge Green's functions is supported.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2007

Large volume behavior of Yang-Mills propagators

We summarize results on finite-volume effects in the propagators of Landau gauge Yang-Mills theory using Dyson-Schwinger equations on a 4-dimensional torus. We demonstrate explicitly how the solutions for the gluon and the ghost propagator tend towards their respective infinite volume forms in the corresponding limit. We discuss the relation of our solutions with results from lattice Monte-Carlo simulations.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2007

Infrared-suppressed gluon propagator in 4d Yang-Mills theory in a Landau-like gauge

The infrared behavior of the gluon propagator is directly related to confinement in QCD. Indeed, the Gribov-Zwanziger scenario of confinement predicts an infrared vanishing (transverse) gluon propagator in Landau-like gauges, implying violation of reflection positivity and gluon confinement. Finite-volume effects make it very difficult to observe (in the minimal Landau gauge) an infrared suppressed gluon propagator in lattice simulations of the four-dimensional case. Here we report results for the SU(2) gluon propagator in a gauge that interpolates between the minimal Landau gauge (for gauge parameter lambda equal to 1) and the minimal Coulomb gauge (corresponding to lambda = 0). For small values of lambda we find that the spatially-transverse gluon propagator D^tr(0,|\vec p|), considered as a function of the spatial momenta |\vec p|, is clearly infrared suppressed. This result is in agreement with the Gribov-Zwanziger scenario and with previous numerical results in the minimal Coulomb gauge. We also discuss the nature of the limit lambda -> 0 (complete Coulomb gauge) and its relation to the standard Coulomb gauge (lambda = 0). Our findings are corroborated by similar results in the three-dimensional case, where the infrared suppression is observed for all considered values of lambda.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2007

Infrared properties of propagators in Landau-gauge pure Yang-Mills theory at finite temperature

The finite-temperature behavior of gluon and of Faddeev-Popov-ghost propagators is investigated for pure SU(2) Yang-Mills theory in Landau gauge. We present nonperturbative results, obtained using lattice simulations and Dyson-Schwinger equations. Possible limitations of these two approaches, such as finite-volume effects and truncation artifacts, are extensively discussed. Both methods suggest a very different temperature dependence for the magnetic sector when compared to the electric one. In particular, a clear thermodynamic transition seems to affect only the electric sector. These results imply in particular the confinement of transverse gluons at all temperatures and they can be understood inside the framework of the so-called Gribov-Zwanziger scenario of confinement.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2007

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.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2007

Large volume behaviour of Yang-Mills propagators

We investigate finite volume effects in the propagators of Landau gauge Yang-Mills theory using Dyson-Schwinger equations on a 4-dimensional torus. In particular, we demonstrate explicitly how the solutions for the gluon and the ghost propagator tend towards their respective infinite volume forms in the corresponding limit. This solves an important open problem of previous studies where the infinite volume limit led to an apparent mismatch, especially of the infrared behaviour, between torus extrapolations and the existing infinite volume solutions obtained in 4-dimensional Euclidean space-time. However, the correct infinite volume limit is approached rather slowly. The typical scales necessary to see the onset of the leading infrared behaviour emerging already imply volumes of at least 10 to 15 fm in lengths. To reliably extract the infrared exponents of the infinite volume solutions requires even much larger ones. While the volumes in the Monte-Carlo simulations available at present are far too small to facilitate that, we obtain a good qualitative agreement of our torus solutions with recent lattice data in comparable volumes.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2006

Propagators in Yang-Mills theory for different gauges

Green's functions are gauge-dependent quantities. Thus, the manifestation of confinement in these correlation functions also depends on the gauge. Here we use lattice gauge theory to study the gluon and the ghost propagators in a gauge (the so-called lambda-gauge) interpolating between the Landau and the Coulomb gauge. Results are compared to the usual minimal Landau gauge.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2006

On the infrared behavior of Green's functions in Yang-Mills theory

Non-perturbative properties of QCD, such as color confinement, are encoded in the infrared behavior of correlation functions, e.g. propagators and vertices. Various analytic predictions have been suggested for these quantities in various gauges. Here we numerically test these predictions using lattice gauge theory. In particular, we present results for the 2- and 3-point functions for SU(2) Landau-gauge Yang-Mills theory in three and in four dimensions. Special attention is paid to systematic finite-volume effects. The gluon and ghost propagators are also evaluated in the so-called interpolating gauge (between the Landau and the Coulomb gauge), in order to study their gauge-dependence. Finally, we consider these propagators in Landau gauge at finite temperature, with the aim of understanding the effect of the deconfinement phase transition on their infrared behavior. All our results are compatible with the so-called Gribov-Zwanziger confinement scenario.

hep-lat↗