Manifest covariance and the Hamiltonian approach to mass gap in (2+1)-dimensional Yang-Mills theory

TL;DR

This paper develops covariant, gauge-invariant mass terms for (2+1)-dimensional Yang-Mills theory, enabling a covariant Hamiltonian approach to analyze the mass gap phenomenon.

Contribution

It introduces two covariant, gauge-invariant mass terms derived from Hamiltonian analysis, facilitating a covariant study of the mass gap in Yang-Mills theory.

Findings

Two covariant mass terms are constructed.

These mass terms can be used in perturbation theory.

The approach advances understanding of the mass gap in (2+1)D Yang-Mills.

Abstract

In earlier work we have given a Hamiltonian analysis of Yang-Mills theory in (2+1) dimensions showing how a mass gap could arise. In this paper, generalizing and covariantizing from the mass term in the Hamiltonian analysis, we obtain two manifestly covariant and gauge-invariant mass terms which can be used in a resummation of standard perturbation theory to study properties of the mass gap.