Gluon condensate and the vacuum structure of QCD

TL;DR

This paper explores the complex structure of the gluon condensate in QCD, revealing a non-trivial vacuum landscape that may be linked to the origin of particle generations.

Contribution

It provides a phenomenological and analytic analysis of the gluon condensate structure and its implications for vacuum solutions in non-abelian gauge theories.

Findings

Gluon condensate structure is complex and influences the QCD ground state.

Vacuum solutions in SU(3) exhibit non-trivial structure absent in SU(2).

Vacuum condensates may be related to particle generation mechanisms.

Abstract

Phenomenological evidence and analytic approximations to the QCD ground state suggest a complex gluon condensate structure. Exclusion of elementary fermion excitations by the generation of infinite mass corrections is a consequence. In addition the existence of vacuum condensates in unbroken non-abelian gauge theories, endows SU(3) and higher order groups with a non-trivial structure in the manifold of possible vacuum solutions, which is not present in SU(2). This may be related to the existence of particle generations.