# Two loop calculation of Yang-Mills propagators in the Curci-Ferrari model

## TL;DR

This paper extends two-loop calculations of gluon and ghost propagators in the Curci-Ferrari model, showing improved agreement with lattice data and supporting its use as a phenomenological tool for Yang-Mills theory.

## Contribution

It provides the first two-loop perturbative calculation of Yang-Mills propagators within the Curci-Ferrari model, enhancing the match with lattice results.

## Key findings

- Two-loop calculations significantly improve agreement with lattice data.
- The Curci-Ferrari model effectively describes infrared Yang-Mills correlation functions.
- Perturbation theory converges well in the infrared regime.

## Abstract

The Landau-gauge gluon and ghost correlation functions obtained in lattice simulations can be reproduced qualitatively and, to a certain extent, quantitatively if a gluon mass is added to the standard Faddeev-Popov action. This has been tested extensively at one loop, for the two and three point correlation functions of the gluons, ghosts and quarks. In this article, we push the comparison to two loops for the gluon and ghost propagators. The agreement between lattice results and the perturbative calculation considerably improves. This validates the Curci-Ferrari action as a good phenomenological model for describing the correlation functions of Yang-Mills theory in the Landau gauge. It also indicates that the perturbation theory converges fairly well, in the infrared regime.