Condensates in Quantum Chromodynamics and the Cosmological Constant

TL;DR

This paper argues that QCD condensates are confined within hadrons and do not contribute to the cosmological constant, aligning with the view that chiral symmetry breaking is a property of hadronic wavefunctions rather than the vacuum.

Contribution

It provides multiple physical perspectives and formal approaches to demonstrate that QCD condensates are confined within hadrons, not the vacuum, impacting cosmological constant considerations.

Findings

QCD condensates are associated with hadronic internal dynamics.

Condensates do not contribute to the cosmological constant.

Multiple approaches support in-hadron condensate confinement.

Abstract

Casher and Susskind have noted that in the light-front description, spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking in quantum chromodynamics (QCD) is a property of hadronic wavefunctions and not of the vacuum. Here we show from several physical perspectives that, because of color confinement, quark and gluon QCD condensates are associated with the internal dynamics of hadrons. We discuss condensates using condensed matter analogues, the AdS/CFT correspondence, and the Bethe-Salpeter/Dyson-Schwinger approach for bound states. Our analysis is in agreement with the Casher and Susskind model and the explicit demonstration of "in-hadron" condensates by Roberts et al., using the Bethe-Salpeter/Dyson-Schwinger formalism for QCD bound states. These results imply that QCD condensates give {\it zero} contribution to the cosmological constant, since all of the gravitational effects of the in-hadron condensates are already included in the normal contribution from hadron masses.