Gluon Propagators in Maximally Abelian Gauge in SU(3) Lattice QCD

TL;DR

This study investigates diagonal and off-diagonal gluon propagators in SU(3) lattice QCD within the maximally Abelian gauge, revealing effective masses and infrared behaviors through Monte Carlo simulations.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of gluon propagators in the maximally Abelian gauge for SU(3) lattice QCD, including effective mass estimates and functional forms.

Findings

Diagonal gluons have an effective mass of about 0.3 GeV.

Off-diagonal gluons have an effective mass of about 1 GeV.

Off-diagonal propagator is suppressed in the infrared and appears finite at zero momentum.

Abstract

In SU(3) lattice QCD, we study diagonal and off-diagonal gluon propagators in the maximally Abelian (MA) gauge with U(1)$_3 \timesU(1)_8$ Landau gauge fixing. These propagators are studied both in the coordinate space and in the momentum space. The Monte Carlo simulation is performed on $16^4$ at $\beta$=6.0 and $32^4$ at $\beta$=5.8 and 6.0 at the quenched level. In the four-dimensional Euclidean space-time, the effective mass of diagonal gluons is estimated as $M_{\mathrm{diag}} \simeq 0.3\mathrm{GeV}$ and that of off-diagonal gluons as $M_{\mathrm{off}} \simeq 1\mathrm{GeV}$ in the region of $r =0.4-1.0$fm. In the momentum space, the effective mass of diagonal gluons is estimated as $M_{\mathrm{diag}} \simeq 0.3\mathrm{GeV}$ and that of off-diagonal gluons as $M_{\mathrm{off}} \simeq 1\mathrm{GeV}$ in the region of $p <1.1$GeV. The off-diagonal gluon propagator is relatively suppressed in the infrared region and seems to be finite at zero momentum, while the diagonal gluon propagator is enhanced. Furthermore, we also study the functional form of these propagators in momentum space. These propagators are well fitted by $Z/(p^2+m^2)^\nu$ with fit parameters, $Z, m$ and $\nu$ in the region of $p <3.0$GeV. From the fit results and lattice calculations, all of the spectral functions of diagonal and off-diagonal gluons would have negative regions.