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Reinhard Alkofer

Publications and source records attributed to Reinhard Alkofer.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

Dynamically induced scalar quark confinement: A link between chiral symmetry breaking and confinement

Employing functional approaches the infrared behaviour of Landau gauge QCD vertex functions is investigated. Results for the ghost-gluon, three-gluon and quark-gluon vertex functions are presented. As can be analytically shown a linear rising potential between heavy quarks is generated by infrared singularities in the dressed quark-gluon vertex. The selfconsistent mechanism that generates these singularities implies the existence of scalar Dirac amplitudes of the full vertex and the quark propagator. These amplitudes can only be present when chiral symmetry is broken, either explicitly or dynamically. The corresponding relations thus constitute a novel mechanism that directly links chiral symmetry breaking with confinement.

hep-ph↗

Lower dimensional Yang-Mills theory as a laboratory to study the infrared regime

Lattice studies of the infrared regime of gauge theories are complicated by the required extensive limits, the performed gauge fixing and the demand for high statistics. Using a general power counting scheme for the infrared limit of Landau gauge SU(N) Yang-Mills theory in arbitrary dimensions we show that the infrared behavior of Greens functions is both qualitatively and quantitatively similar in two, three and four spacetime dimensions. Therefore, lower dimensional lattice simulations can serve as a simplified laboratory to analyze the presently applied approximations and to obtain first results for higher correlation functions.

hep-ph↗

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↗

QCD Green Functions and their Application to Hadron Physics

In a functional approach to QCD the infrared behaviour of Landau gauge Green functions is investigated. It can be proven that the ghost Dyson-Schwinger equation implies the Gribov-Zwanziger horizon condition. Its relation to the Kugo-Ojima confinement scenario is elucidated. Positivity violation for gluons is demonstrated, and the analytic structure of the gluon propagator is studied. Quark confinement is related to an infrared divergence of the quark-gluon vertex. It is shown that in the latter various components are non-vanishing due to the dynamical breaking of chiral symmetry. As a result an infrared finite running coupling in the Yang-Mills sector is derived whereas the running coupling related to the quark-gluon vertex is infrared divergent. In Coulomb gauge QCD already the one-gluon-exchange (over-)confines. This leads to a vanishing quark propagator, and thus quarks are confined. Nevertheless colour singlet quantities derived from the quark propagator are well-defined. Especially the expression for the quark condensate proves that chiral symmetry is dynamically broken. As expected the properties of mesons can be directly calculated whereas the mass of coloured diquarks diverges, and thus diquarks are confined. The latter nevertheless possess a well-defined size. In the third part the results obtained so far will be used to formulate a covariant Faddeev approach to nucleons. The resulting amplitudes describe the quark core of the nucleon. Besides the mass of this state also the electromagnetic form factors are calculated. The results for charge radii and magnetic moments as a function of the quark current mass provide some indication what the missing pion cloud may contribute to the nucleons' properties.

hep-ph↗

On the unlocking of color and flavor in color-superconducting quark matter

The role of the strange quark mass for the phase structure of QCD at non-vanishing densities is studied by employing a recently developed self-consistent truncation scheme for the Dyson-Schwinger equations of the quark propagators in Landau gauge. Hereby the medium modification of the effective quark interaction by the polarization of gluons is implemented. Taking into account this effect results in significantly smaller dynamical quark masses at the Fermi surface. Due to this reduction the color-flavor locked phase is always the preferred color-superconducting phase at zero temperature and for a realistic strange quark mass.

hep-ph↗

Color-superconductivity in the strong-coupling regime of Landau gauge QCD

The chirally unbroken and the superconducting 2SC and CFL phases are investigated in the chiral limit within a Dyson-Schwinger approach for the quark propagator in QCD. The hierarchy of Green's functions is truncated such that at vanishing density known results for the vacuum and at asymptotically high densities the corresponding weak-coupling expressions are recovered. The anomalous dimensions of the gap functions are analytically calculated. Based on the quark propagator the phase structure is studied, and results for the gap functions, occupation numbers, coherence lengths and pressure differences are given and compared with the corresponding expressions in the weak-coupling regime. At moderate chemical potentials the quasiparticle pairing gaps are several times larger than the extrapolated weak-coupling results.

hep-ph↗

Soft gluons are heavy and rowdy

We study dynamical mass generation in pure Yang-Mills theory and report on a recently developed ansatz that exactly solves the tower of Dyson-Schwinger equations in Landau gauge at low Euclidean momentum, featuring enhanced gluon-gluon vertices, a finite ghost-gluon vertex in agreement with an old argument of Taylor, and an IR suppressed gluon propagator. This ansatz reinforces arguments in favor of the concept of a gluon mass gap at low momentum (although the minimum of the gluon's dispersion relation is not at zero momentum). As an application, we have computed the spectrum of oddballs, three-gluon glueballs with negative parity and C-parity. The three body problem is variationally solved employing the color density-density interaction of Coulomb gauge QCD with a static Cornell potential. Like their even glueball counterparts, oddballs fall on Regge trajectories with similar slope to the pomeron. However their intercept at t=0 is smaller than the omega Regge trajectory and therefore the odderon may only be visible in experimental searches (for example at BNL) with higher -t than conducted to date at DESY.

nucl-th↗

Studying unquenching effects in QCD with Dyson-Schwinger equations

We summarise recent results on the properties of gluons, quarks and light mesons from the Green's functions approach to QCD. We discuss a self-consistent, infrared power law solution for the Schwinger-Dyson equations of the 1PI-Greens functions of Yang-Mills theory. The corresponding running coupling has a universal fixed point at zero momentum. Based on these analytical results a truncation scheme for the coupled system of Schwinger-Dyson equations for the propagators of QCD and the Bethe-Salpeter equation for light mesons has been formulated. We compare numerical results for charge eigenstate vector and pseudoscalar meson observables with corresponding lattice data. The effects of unquenching the system are found to be small but not negligible.

hep-ph↗

Infrared behaviour of the ghost-gluon vertex in Landau gauge Yang-Mills theory

A semi-perturbative calculation of the ghost-gluon vertex in Landau gauge Yang-Mills theory in four and three Euclidean space-time dimensions is presented. Non-perturbative gluon and ghost propagators are employed, which have previously been calculated from a truncated set of Dyson--Schwinger equations and which are in qualitative and quantitative agreement with corresponding lattice results. Our results for the ghost-gluon vertex show only relatively small deviations from the tree-level one in agreement with recent lattice data. In particular, we do not see any sign for a singular behaviour of the ghost-gluon vertex in the infrared.

hep-ph↗

Temperature Dependence of Gluon and Ghost Propagators in Landau-Gauge Yang-Mills Theory below the Phase Transition

The Dyson-Schwinger equations of Landau-gauge Yang-Mills theory for the gluon and ghost propagators are investigated. Numerical results are obtained within a truncation scheme which has proven to be successful at vanishing temperature. For temperatures up to 250 MeV we find only minor quantitative changes in the infrared behaviour of the gluon and ghost propagators. The effective action calculated from these propagators is temperature-independent within the numerical uncertainty.

hep-ph↗

The High-Temperature Phase of Landau-Gauge Yang-Mills Theory

The properties of the high-temperature phase of Yang-Mills theory in Landau gauge are investigated by extending an earlier study on the infinite-temperature limit to finite temperatures. To this end the Dyson-Schwinger equations for the propagators of the gluon and the Faddeev-Popov ghost are solved analytically in the infrared and numerically at non-vanishing momenta. Gluons, polarized transversely with respect to the heat bath are found to comply with the Gribov-Zwanziger and the Kugo-Ojima scenario, while longitudinally polarized gluons are screened. Therefore the high-temperature phase is strongly interacting. It is furthermore conjectured that Yang-Mills theory undergoes a first-order phase transition. Indications are found that at high temperatures the thermodynamic properties are nearly those of an ideal gas, although long-range interactions prevail.

hep-ph↗

Vertex functions and infrared fixed point in Landau gauge SU(N) Yang-Mills theory

The infrared behaviour of vertex functions in an SU(N) Yang-Mills theory in Landau gauge is investigated employing a skeleton expansion of the Dyson-Schwinger equations. The three- and four-gluon vertices become singular if and only if all external momenta vanish while the dressing of the ghost-gluon vertex remains finite in this limit. The running coupling as extracted from either of these vertex functions possesses an infrared fixed point. In general, diagrams including ghost-loops dominate in the infrared over purely gluonic ones.

hep-th↗

Finite-Temperature Yang-Mills Theory in Landau Gauge

The gluon and ghost propagators in Landau Gauge Yang-Mills Theory are investigated. Self-consistent solutions are obtained from their equations of motion above and below the presumed phase transition. Gluon confinement is manifest in these solutions and can be read off the infrared behavior of the gluon and ghost propagators. Confinement prevails below the presumed phase transition. Above and in the infinite temperature limit, a qualitative change is observed: The chromoelectric sector exhibits screening, while long-range chromomagnetic interactions, mediated by soft modes, are still observed. At least part of the gluon spectrum is still confined. These findings agree with corresponding lattice results.

hep-ph↗

The Ghost-Gluon Vertex in Landau Gauge Yang-Mills Theory

Possible mechanisms for gluon confinement in Yang-Mills theory in covariant gauges are discussed briefly. Implications for the infrared behavior of the Green's functions are outlined. Results for the gluon and Faddeev-Popov ghost propagators from Dyson-Schwinger studies and lattice calculations are presented. The importance of the ghost-gluon vertex in these studies is discussed. Numerical results for a non-perturbatively constructed ghost-gluon vertex in four and three space-time dimensions are presented.

hep-ph↗

Residual Confinement in High-Temperature Yang-Mills Theory

The infrared behavior of Landau gauge gluon and ghost propagators are investigated in Yang-Mills theory at non-vanishing temperatures. Self-consistent solutions are presented for temperatures below the presumed phase transition and in the infinite temperature limit. Gluon confinement is manifest in the infrared behavior of these propagators. As expected confinement prevails below the phase transition. In the infinite-temperature limit a qualitative change is observed: the chromoelectric sector exhibits a near-perturbative behavior while long-range chromomagnetic interactions, mediated by soft ghost modes, are still present. The latter behavior is in agreement with corresponding lattice results. It furthermore implies that part of the gluons are still confined.

hep-ph↗

High-Temperature Limit of Landau-Gauge Yang-Mills Theory

The infrared properties of the high-temperature limit of Landau-gauge Yang-Mills theory are investigated. In a first step the high-temperature limit of the Dyson-Schwinger equations is taken. The resulting equations are identical to the Dyson-Schwinger equations of the dimensionally reduced theory, a three-dimensional Yang-Mills theory coupled to an effective adjoint Higgs field. These equations are solved analytically in the infrared and ultraviolet, and numerically for all Euclidean momenta. We find infrared enhancement for the Faddeev-Popov ghosts, infrared suppression for transverse gluons and a mass for the Higgs. These results imply long-range interactions and over-screening in the chromomagnetic sector of high temperature Yang-Mills theory while in the chromoelectric sector only screening is observed.

hep-ph↗

Semiperturbative construction for the quark-gluon vertex

We construct a model for the quark-gluon vertex of Landau gauge QCD. This is of twofold interest: on the one hand the quark-gluon interaction is at the heart of quark confinement, on the other hand it is a central element in hadron phenomenology based on QCD Greens functions. We employ the non-Abelian one-loop diagram in perturbation theory, which is of order Nc. As a novelty we replace the tree-level quark and gluon propagators in this diagram by their dressed counterparts solving the Dyson-Schwinger equations. The Nc-suppressed Abelian diagram is an order of magnitude smaller in various kinematics. We also study the effect of ghost dressing factors on the vertex obtaining a construction in good agreement with recent low-momentum lattice calculations.

hep-ph↗