Impact of centre vortex removal on the Landau-gauge quark propagator in dynamical QCD

TL;DR

This study investigates how removing centre vortices affects the Landau-gauge quark propagator in dynamical QCD, revealing suppression of dynamical mass generation and significant infrared effects, especially at lighter quark masses.

Contribution

It provides initial results showing the impact of centre vortex removal on the quark propagator in dynamical gauge fields using overlap fermions.

Findings

Dynamical mass generation is suppressed after vortex removal.

The quark renormalisation function is flat except in the infrared.

Infrared suppression becomes more prominent at lighter quark masses.

Abstract

The important role of centre vortices in dynamical chiral symmetry breaking and corresponding dynamical mass generation has been demonstrated in pure gauge studies of the Landau-gauge quark propagator. We present initial results of our investigation into the impact of centre vortex removal on the Landau-gauge propagator on dynamical gauge fields. To ensure sensitivity to the topology of the gauge fields, the propagator is computed with overlap fermions. Upon removal of centre vortices we find that dynamical mass generation is suppressed. The quark renormalisation function remains remarkably flat except in the deep infrared where it exhibits significant suppression. These effects become more prominent at lighter quark masses.