Lattice QCD Analysis for Gluons

TL;DR

This paper investigates nonperturbative gluon properties in SU(3) lattice QCD, revealing a Yukawa-type propagator and identifying the gluonic momentum scale relevant for color confinement below 1.5 GeV.

Contribution

It introduces a novel Yukawa-type functional form for the gluon propagator and determines the gluonic momentum component crucial for confinement.

Findings

Gluon propagator fits a 4D Yukawa function with mass ~600 MeV

Gluon spectral function is mostly negative with a delta peak at the mass

String tension remains unchanged after removing high-momentum gluons above 1.5 GeV

Abstract

Nonperturbative properties of gluons are studied in SU(3) lattice QCD at the quenched level. The first subject is a functional-form analysis of the gluon propagator $D_{\mu\nu}^{ab}(x)$ in the Landau gauge. We find that the gluon propagator $D_{\mu\mu}^{aa}(r)$ obtained in lattice QCD is well described by the four-dimensional (4D) Yukawa-type function $e^{-mr}/r$ with $m \simeq 600$MeV for the Euclidean 4D distance $r = 0.1 \sim 1.0$ fm. In momentum space, the gluon propagator $\tilde D_{\mu\mu}^{aa}(p^2)$ ($p= 0.5 \sim 3$ GeV) is found to be well approximated with a new-type propagator of $(p^2+m^2)^{-3/2}$, which corresponds to 4D Fourier image of the Yukawa-type function. Associated with the Yukawa-type gluon propagator, we derive analytical expressions for the zero-spatial-momentum propagator $D_0(t)$, the effective mass $M_{\rm eff}(t)$, and the spectral function $\rho(\omega)$ of the gluon field. The mass parameter $m$ turns out to be the infrared effective mass of gluons. The obtained gluon spectral function $\rho(\omega)$ is almost negative-definite for $\omega >m$, except for a positive $\delta$-functional peak at $\omega=m$. The second subject is a lattice-QCD determination of the relevant gluonic momentum-component for color confinement. As a remarkable fact, the string tension is found to be almost unchanged even after cutting off the high-momentum gluon component above 1.5 GeV in the Landau gauge. In fact, the relevant gluonic scale for color confinement is concluded to be below 1.5 GeV.