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

TL;DR

This paper uses functional methods to explore how infrared singularities in QCD vertex functions lead to a linear quark confinement potential, establishing a direct link between chiral symmetry breaking and confinement.

Contribution

It demonstrates a self-consistent mechanism where chiral symmetry breaking induces scalar amplitudes in vertex functions, causing confinement in Landau gauge QCD.

Findings

Infrared singularities generate a linear potential between heavy quarks.

Scalar Dirac amplitudes are present only when chiral symmetry is broken.

A novel link between chiral symmetry breaking and confinement is established.

Abstract

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.