Exploring dynamical gluon mass generation in three dimensions

TL;DR

This paper investigates the dynamical generation of gluon mass in three-dimensional non-Abelian gauge theory, focusing on the spectral function violation of positivity and the role of the vertex paradigm in the Pinch Technique.

Contribution

It introduces a new vertex paradigm method to truncate PT equations, enabling a gauge-invariant estimate of the gluon mass and explaining the spectral bulge phenomenon.

Findings

Estimated a gauge-invariant gluon mass of approximately Ng^2/(2.48π).

Clarified the coexistence of the spectral bulge and a consistent mass estimate.

Found good agreement with SU(2) lattice data for the Landau gauge.

Abstract

In the d=3 gluon mass problem in pure-glue non-Abelian $SU(N)$ gauge theory we pay particular attention to the observed (in Landau gauge) violation of positivity for the spectral function of the gluon propagator. This causes a large bulge in the propagator at small momentum. Mass is defined through $m^{-2}=\Delta (p=0)$, where $\Delta(p)$ is the scalar function for the gluon propagator in some chosen gauge, it is not a pole mass and is generally gauge-dependent, except in the gauge-invariant Pinch Technique (PT). We truncate the PT equations with a new method called the vertex paradigm that automatically satisfies the QED-like Ward identity relating the 3-gluon PT vertex function with the PT propagator. The mass is determined by a homogeneous Bethe-Salpeter equation involving this vertex and propagator. This gap equation also encapsulates the Bethe-Salpeter equation for the massless scalar excitations, essentially Nambu-Goldstone fields, that necessarily accompany gauge-invariant gluon mass. The problem is to find a good approximate value for $m$ and at the same time explain the bulge, which by itself leads, in the gap equation for the gluon mass, to excessively large values for the mass. Our point is not to give a high-accuracy determination of $m$ but to clarify the way in which the propagator bulge and a fairly accurate estimate of $m$ can co-exist, and we use various approximations that illustrate the underlying mechanisms. The most critical point is to satisfy the Ward identity. In the PT we estimate a gauge-invariant dynamical gluon mass of $m \approx Ng^2/(2.48 \pi)$. We translate these results to the Landau gauge using a background-quantum identity involving a dynamical quantity $\kappa$ such that $m=\kappa m_L$, where $m_L^{-2}\equiv \Delta_L(p=0)$. Given our estimates for $m,\kappa$ the relation is fortuitously well-satisfied for $SU(2)$ lattice data.