Dynamical gluon mass generation from <A^2> in linear covariant gauges

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that in linear covariant gauges, the gluon condensate <A^2> leads to dynamical gluon mass generation, with the effective potential favoring this formation and the vacuum energy remaining gauge independent.

Contribution

It constructs a renormalizable effective potential for <A^2> and shows its role in gluon mass generation in linear covariant gauges.

Findings

Gluon condensate <A^2> is energetically favored.

Gluons acquire a dynamical mass due to <A^2>.

Vacuum energy is gauge parameter independent.

Abstract

We construct the multiplicatively renormalizable effective potential for the mass dimension two local composite operator A^2 in linear covariant gauges. We show that the formation of <A^2> is energetically favoured and that the gluons acquire a dynamical mass due to this gluon condensate. We also discuss the gauge parameter independence of the resultant vacuum energy.