arXiv subjects

Marcela Peláez

Publications and source records attributed to Marcela Peláez.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Effects of fermions in one-loop propagators in the Curci-Ferrari-Delbourgo-Jarvis gauge

We present the one-loop computation of the quark propagator in the Curci-Ferrari-Delbourgo- Jarvis (CFDJ) gauge, extending previous analyses to include dynamical quarks. Using the infrared- safe renormalization scheme, we study how finite gauge parameters affect the infrared behavior of QCD correlation functions. The coupling, gluon mass, and gauge parameter are found to freeze below a finite energy scale, confirming the infrared stability of the framework. The quark dressing function Z(p) shows a change in concavity between the Landau and finite-ξ cases, suggesting that nonvanishing gauges may better reproduce lattice trends. These results establish the CFDJ gauge as a possible infrared-safe setting candidate for perturbative QCD with massive gluons. In the case of a consistency check from lattice calculations, it could provide a basis for future studies of the quark-gluon vertex and related observables.

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arXiv2025

Scenario for quark confinement from infrared safe Yang-Mills dynamics

We revisit the non-Abelian dipole problem in the context of a simple semiclassical approach that incorporates some essential features of the infrared sector of Yang-Mills theories in the Landau gauge, in particular, the fact that both the running coupling and the gluon propagator remain finite at infrared scales and that the latter shows positivity violations that reflects the presence of massless modes. We obtain a simple flux tube solution in a controlled approximation scheme, which we compare to the results of lattice simulations.

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arXiv2025

Nonrelativistic meson masses from the Curci-Ferrari model

We study the mass spectrum of nonrelativistic mesons composed of charm and bottom quarks within the framework of the Curci-Ferrari model in the Landau gauge, focusing on the influence of the gluon mass on our results. We derive the Hamiltonian from the scattering amplitude of a single massive gluon exchange. By incorporating a confining Cornell potential we solve the Schrödinger equation for the dominant terms of the Hamiltonian, which include the kinetic energy and a Yukawa-type potential. Corrections to the energy are then introduced perturbatively. By studying the parameter space of the model we fit the experimental mass spectrum of charmonium, bottomonium and charm-bottom mesons. From the five parameters of our approach, we allow the gluon mass and the gauge coupling to run with the energy scale according to the ultraviolet one-loop renormalization flows, computed in [1]. Our results show very good agreement with the data, suggesting that a nonvanishing gluon mass provides a better description of the spectrum of heavy mesons than the massless case.

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arXiv2025

The infrared-safe Minkowskian Curci-Ferrari model

We discuss the existence of Landau-pole-free renormalization group trajectories in the Minkowskian version of the Curci-Ferrari model as a function of a running parameter $q^2$ associated to the four-vector $q$ at which renormalization conditions are imposed, and which can take both space-like ($\smash{q^2<0}$) and time-like ($\smash{q^2>0}$) values. We discuss two possible extensions of the infrared-safe scheme defined in Ref. [Phys. Rev. D, 84, 045018, 2011] for the Euclidean version of the model, which coincide with the latter in the space-like region upon identifying $\smash{Q^2\equiv-q^2}$ with the square of the renormalization scale in that reference. The first extension uses real-valued renormalization factors and leads to a flow in the time-like region with a similar structure as the flow in the space-like region (or in the Euclidean model), including a non-trivial fixed point and a family of trajectories bounded at all scales by the value of the coupling at this fixed point. Interestingly, the fixed point in the time-like region has a much smaller value of $λ\equiv g^2N/16π^2$ than the corresponding one in the space-like region, a value closer to the perturbative boundary $\smash{λ=1}$. However, in this real-valued infrared-safe scheme, the flow cannot connect the time-like and space-like regions. Thus, it is not possible to deduce the relevant time-like flow trajectory from the sole knowledge of a space-like flow trajectory. To try to cure this problem, we investigate a second extension of the Euclidean IR-safe scheme, which allows for complex-valued renormalization factors. We discuss under which conditions these schemes can make sense and study their ability to connect space- and time-like flow trajectories. In particular, we investigate to which types of time-like trajectories the perturbative space-like trajectories are mapped onto.

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arXiv2025

Unitarization of the one-loop graviton-graviton scattering amplitudes and study of the graviball

From the graviton-graviton scattering amplitudes calculated perturbatively in quantum gravity to the one-loop order, we develop further a formalism that allows one to calculate infrared-finite partial-wave amplitudes fulfilling perturbative unitarity. As a result of this process a parameter dubbed $\ln a$ emerges that separate between infrared and typical external momenta. The resulting partial-wave amplitudes are next unitarized by employing the Inverse Amplitude Method and the algebraic-$N/D$ method. Then, the graviball resonance, with a similar pole position, is confirmed in the $S$-wave partial-wave amplitude for all unitarization methods, also with respect to the unitarization of only the leading-order amplitude. Although the spectrum of the theory is independent of the specific value of $\ln a$, the requirement for a well-behaved unitarized effective field theory of gravity identifies the optimal range of $\ln a$ for our next-to-leading-order calculations as $0.5 \lesssim \ln a \lesssim 1.7$. Briefly, we discuss the $D$-wave scattering that is weaker than the $S-$wave scattering, repulsive and non-resonant for $\ln a\approx 1$.

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arXiv2024

Unitarization of electron scattering with an external potential at NLO in QED

We have calculated the one-loop scattering amplitude of an electron by an external Coulomb potential in QED free of infrared divergences. This feature is achieved by applying the Faddeev-Kulish formalism, which implies a redefinition of both the asymptotic electronic states and of the $S$ matrix. Additionally, we have also derived the infrared-finite one-loop partial-wave amplitudes for this process by applying a recent method in the literature. Next, these partial-wave amplitudes are unitarized based on analyticity and unitarity by employing three different methods of unitarization: the algebraic $N/D$ method, the Inverse Amplitude Method and the first iterated $N/D$ method. Then, we have studied several partial waves both for physical momentum and for complex ones to look for bound-state poles. The binding momentum for the fundamental bound state in $S$ wave is discussed with special detail. This is a wide-ranging method for calculating nonperturbative partial-wave amplitudes for infinite-range interactions that could be applied to many other systems.

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arXiv2024

Ghost-gluon vertex in the presence of the Gribov horizon: General kinematics

Correlation functions are important probes for the behavior of quantum field theories. Already at tree-level, the Refined Gribov Zwanziger (RGZ) effective action for Yang-Mills theories provides a good approximation for the gluon propagator, as compared to that calculated by nonperturbative methods such as Lattice Field Theory and Dyson-Schwinger Equations. However, the study of higher correlation functions of the RGZ theory is still at its beginning. In this work we evaluate the ghost-antighost-gluon vertex function in Landau gauge at one-loop level, in $d=4$ space-time dimensions for the gauge groups SU(2) and SU(3). More precisely, we extend the analysis conducted in [1] for the soft-gluon limit to an arbitrary kinematic configuration. We introduce renormalization group effects by means of a toy model for the running coupling and investigate the impact of such a model in the ultraviolet tails of our results. We find that RGZ results match fairly closely those from lattice simulations, Schwinger-Dyson equations and the Curci-Ferrari model for three different kinematic configurations. This is compatible with RGZ being a feasible theory for the strong interaction in the infrared regime.

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arXiv2024

Four-gluon vertex from the Curci-Ferrari model at one-loop order

We compute the four-gluon vertex from the Curci-Ferrari model at one-loop order for a collinear configuration. Our results display a good agreement with the first lattice data for this vertex, released very recently (arXiv:2401.12008). A noteworthy novelty of our work is that we can provide analytical expressions for the four-gluon vertex in collinear configurations, together with a renormalization scheme that allows us to perform reliable perturbative computations even in the infrared regime. We observe an infrared suppression in the form factor associated with the tree-level four-gluon tensor with a possible zero-crossing in the deep infrared which demands new lattice investigations to be confirmed. Moreover, we report an infrared divergence in the completely symmetric tensor form factor due to the ghost-loop contributions. These results come as predictions since previous two-point correlations fix all the available parameters of the model, up to an overall constant factor.

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arXiv2022

Small parameters in infrared QCD: The pion decay constant

We continue our investigation of the QCD dynamics in terms of the Curci-Ferrari effective Lagrangian, a deformation of the Faddeev-Popov one in the Landau gauge with a tree-level gluon mass term. In a previous work we have studied the dynamics of chiral symmetry breaking at the level of the quark propagator and, in particular, the dynamical generation of a constituent quark mass. In the present article, we study the associated Goldstone mode, the pion, and we compute the pion decay constant in the chiral limit. Our approach exploits the fact that the coupling (defined in the Taylor scheme) in the pure gauge sector is perturbative, as observed in lattice simulations which, together with a $1/N_c$-expansion, allows for a systematic, controllable approximation scheme in the low energy regime of QCD. At leading order, this leads to the well-known rainbow-ladder resummation. We study the region of parameter space of the model that gives physical values of the pion decay constant. This allows one to constrain the gluon mass parameter as a function of the coupling using a physically measured quantity.

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arXiv2022

Two-loop three-gluon vertex from the Curci-Ferrari model and its leading infrared behavior to all loop orders

We evaluate the three-gluon vertex with one vanishing external momentum within the Curci-Ferrari (CF) model at two-loop order and compare our results to Landau-gauge lattice simulations of the same vertex function for the SU(2) and SU(3) gauge groups in four dimensions. The parameters of the model being adjusted by fitting the two-point functions to lattice data, our evaluation of the three-gluon vertex arises as a pure prediction. We find that two-loop corrections systematically improve the agreement between the model and the lattice data as compared to earlier one-loop calculations, with a better agreement in the SU(3) case, as already seen in previous studies [1,2]. We also analyze the renormalization scheme dependence of our calculation. In all cases, this dependence diminishes when two-loop corrections are included, which is consistent with the perturbative CF paradigm. In addition, we study the low momentum regime of the three-gluon vertex in relation with the possibility of zero-crossing. Within the CF model, we show that the leading infrared behavior of the exact vertex is given by the same linear logarithm that arises at one-loop order, multiplied by the all orders cubic ghost dressing function at zero-momentum (we provide similar exact results for other vertex functions). We argue that this property remains true within the FP framework under the assumption that the resummed gluon propagator features a decoupling behavior. This shows that the zero-crossing is a property of the exact three-gluon vertex function. Within the CF model, we find however that the scale of the zero-crossing is considerably reduced when going from one- to two-loop order. This seems consistent with some recent lattice simulations [3]. Our analysis also allows us to support recent claims about the dominance of the tree-level tensor component [4].

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arXiv2022

One-loop unquenched three-gluon and ghost-gluon vertex in the Curci-Ferrari model

In this article we study the unquenched three-gluon and ghost-gluon vertex in all momentum range going from the ultraviolet to the infrared regime using the Curci-Ferrari model at one-loop in Landau gauge as an extension of the results presented in \cite{Pelaez:2013cpa}. Results are compared with recent lattice data for $SU(3)$ in the unquenched case. This calculation is a pure prediction of the model because it does not require fixing any parameter once two-point functions are fitted. An analysis of the influence of dynamical quarks in the position of the zero crossing of the three-gluon vertex is presented. Due to the recent improvements in infrared lattice data for the quenched three-gluon correlation function \cite{Aguilar:2021lke} we also redo the comparison between our one-loop results in this limit and the lattice obtaining a very good match.

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arXiv2021

Two loop calculation of Yang-Mills propagators in the Curci-Ferrari model

The Landau-gauge gluon and ghost correlation functions obtained in lattice simulations can be reproduced qualitatively and, to a certain extent, quantitatively if a gluon mass is added to the standard Faddeev-Popov action. This has been tested extensively at one loop, for the two and three point correlation functions of the gluons, ghosts and quarks. In this article, we push the comparison to two loops for the gluon and ghost propagators. The agreement between lattice results and the perturbative calculation considerably improves. This validates the Curci-Ferrari action as a good phenomenological model for describing the correlation functions of Yang-Mills theory in the Landau gauge. It also indicates that the perturbation theory converges fairly well, in the infrared regime.

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arXiv2021

Spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking in the massive Landau gauge: realistic running coupling

We investigate the spontaneous breaking of chiral symmetry in QCD by means of a recently proposed approximation scheme in the Landau-gauge Curci-Ferrari model, which combines an expansion in the Yang-Mills coupling and in the inverse number of colors, without expanding in the quark-gluon coupling. The expansion allows for a consistent treatment of ultraviolet tails via renormalization group techniques. At leading order, it leads to the resummation of rainbow diagrams for the quark propagator, with, however, a trivial running of both the gluon mass and the quark-gluon coupling. In a previous work, by using a simple model for a more realistic running of these parameters, we could reproduce the known phenomenology of chiral symmetry breaking, including a satisfactory description of the lattice data for the quark mass function. Here, we get rid of this model-dependence by taking our approximation scheme to next-to-leading order. This allows us to consistently include the realistic running of the parameters and to access the unquenched gluon and ghost propagators to first nontrivial order, which we can compare to available lattice data for an even more stringent test of our approach. In particular, our results for the various two-point functions compare well with lattice data while the parameters of the model are strongly constrained.

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arXiv2021

A window on infrared QCD with small expansion parameters

Lattice simulations of the QCD correlation functions in the Landau gauge have established two remarkable facts. First, the coupling constant in the gauge sector remains finite and moderate at all scales, suggesting that some kind of perturbative description should be valid down to infrared momenta. Second, the gluon propagator reaches a finite nonzero value at vanishing momentum, corresponding to a gluon screening mass. We review recent studies which aim at describing the long-distance properties of Landau gauge QCD by means of the perturbative Curci-Ferrari model. The latter is the simplest deformation of the Faddeev-Popov Lagrangian in the Landau gauge that includes a gluon screening mass at tree-level. There are, by now, strong evidences that this approach successfully describes many aspects of the infrared QCD dynamics. In particular, several correlation functions were computed at one- and two-loop orders and compared with {\it ab-initio} lattice simulations. The typical error is of the order of ten percent for a one-loop calculation and drops to few percents at two loops. We review such calculations in the quenched approximation as well as in the presence of dynamical quarks. In the latter case, the spontaneous breaking of the chiral symmetry requires to go beyond a coupling expansion but can still be described in a controlled approximation scheme in terms of small parameters. We also review applications of the approach to nonzero temperature and chemical potential.

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arXiv2020

The ghost-antighost-gluon vertex from the Curci-Ferrari model: Two-loop corrections

The Curci-Ferrari model has been shown to provide a good grasp on pure Yang-Mills correlation functions in the Landau gauge, already at one-loop order. In a recent work, the robustness of these results has been tested by evaluating the two-loop corrections to the gluon and ghost propagators. We pursue this systematic investigation by computing the ghost-antighost-gluon vertex to the same accuracy in a particular kinematic configuration that makes the calculations simpler. Because both the parameters of the model and the normalizations of the fields have already been fixed in a previous work, the present calculation represents both a pure prediction and a stringent test of the approach. We find that the two-loop results systematically improve the comparison to Monte-Carlo simulations as compared to earlier one-loop results. The improvement is particularly significative in the SU($3$) case where the predicted ghost-antighost-gluon vertex is in very good agreement with the data. The same comparison in the SU($2$) case is not as good, however. This may be due to the presence of a larger coupling constant in the infrared in that case although we note that a similar mismatch has been quoted in non-perturbative continuum approaches. Despite these features of the SU($2$) case, it is possible to find sets of parameters fitting both the propagators and the ghost-antighost-gluon vertex to a reasonable accuracy.

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arXiv2019

On the contribution of different coupling constants in the infrared regime of Yang-Mills theory: a Curci-Ferrari approach

We investigate the influence of the different vertices of two-point correlation functions in the infrared regime of Yang-Mills theory using a phenomenological description. This regime is studied in Landau-gauge and using perturbation theory within a phenomenological massive model. We perform a one-loop calculation for two-point correlation functions taking into account the different role of the various interactions in the infrared. Our results show a good agreement with the lattice data.

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arXiv2018

Small parameters in infrared quantum chromodynamics

We study the long-distance properties of quantum chromodynamics in an expansion in powers of the three-gluon, four-gluon, and ghost-gluon couplings, but without expanding in the quark-gluon coupling. This is motivated by two observations. First, the gauge sector is well-described by perturbation theory in the context of a phenomenological model with a massive gluon. Second, the quark-gluon coupling is significantly larger than those in the gauge sector at large distances. In order to resum the contributions of the remaining infinite set of QED-like diagrams, we further expand the theory in $1/N_c$, where $N_c$ is the number of colors. At leading order, this double expansion leads to the well-known rainbow approximation for the quark propagator. We take advantage of the systematic expansion to get a renormalization-group improvement of the rainbow resummation. A simple numerical solution of the resulting coupled set of equations reproduces the phenomenology of the spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking: for sufficiently large quark-gluon coupling constant, the constituent quark mass saturates when its valence mass approaches zero. We find very good agreement with lattice data for the scalar part of the propagator and explain why the vectorial part is poorly reproduced.

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arXiv2016

Quark-gluon vertex from the Landau gauge Curci-Ferrari model

We investigate the quark-gluon three-point correlation function within a one-loop computation performed in the Curci-Ferrari massive extension of the Faddeev-Popov gauge-fixed action. The mass term is used as a minimal way for taking into account the influence of the Gribov ambiguity. Our results, with renormalization-group improvement, are compared with lattice data. We show that the comparison is in general very satisfactory for the functions which are compatible with chiral symmetry, except for one. We argue that this may be due to large systematic errors {when extracting this function from} lattice simulations. The quantities which break chiral symmetry are more sensitive to the details of the renormalization scheme. We however manage to reproduce some of them with good precision. The chosen parameters allow to simultaneously fit the quark mass function coming from the quark propagator with a reasonably agreement.

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