Aspects of quark mass generation on a torus

In this paper we report on recent results for the quark propagator on a compact manifold. The corresponding Dyson-Schwinger equations on a torus are solved on volumes similar to the ones used in lattice calculations. The quark-gluon interaction is fixed such that the lattice results are reproduced. We discuss both the effects in the infinite volume/continuum limit as well as effects when the volume is small.     

Infrared gluon and ghost propagators from lattice QCD

We report on the infrared limit of the quenched lattice Landau gauge gluon and ghost propagators as well as the strong-coupling constant computed from large asymmetric lattices. The infrared lattice propagators are compared with the pure power law solutions from Dyson-Schwinger equations (DSE). For the gluon propagator, the lattice data is compatible with the DSE solution. The preferred measured gluon exponent being ∼0.52, favouring a vanishing propagator at zero momentum. The lattice ghost propagator shows finite-volume effects and, for the volumes considered, the propagator does not follow a pure power law. Furthermore, the strong-coupling constant is computed and its infrared behaviour investigated.     

Solving coupled Dyson-Schwinger equations on a compact manifold

We present results for the gluon and ghost propagators in SU (N) Yang-Mills theory on a four-torus at zero and non-zero temperatures from a truncated set of Dyson-Schwinger equations. When compared to continuum solutions at zero temperature sizeable modifications due to the finite volume of the manifold, especially in the infrared, are found. Effects due to non-vanishing temperatures T, on the other hand, are minute for T < 250 MeV.     

Electroweak phase transition in the minimal supersymmetric standard model: 4-dimensional lattice simulations

Lattice results show no standard model (SM) electroweak phase transition (EWPT) for Higgs masses approximately 72 GeV, which is below the present experimental limit. Perturbation theory and 3-dimensional simulations indicate an EWPT in the minimal supersymmetric SM (MSSM) that is strong enough for baryogenesis up to m(h) approximately 105 GeV. In this Letter we present the results of our large scale 4-dimensional MSSM EWPT simulations. We carried out infinite volume and continuum limits and found a transition whose strength agrees well with perturbation theory, allowing MSSM electroweak baryogenesis at least up to m(h) = 103+/-4 GeV. We determined the properties of the bubble wall.     

The thermodynamic limit for an imperfect Boson gas

We give a rigorous treatment in the infinite volume limit of a model Hamiltonian representing an imperfect Boson gas. In particular we obtain the exact expression for the mean particle density in the infinite volume limit as a function of the chemical potential, and show that the density function has a singularity at the critical density for Bose-Einstein condensation. We prove that, unlike the ideal Boson gas, the imperfect Boson gas has the same behaviour in the infinite volume limit for the grand canonical ensemble as for the canonical ensemble, and is moreover stable under small perturbations. We finally exhibit the possibility of ordinary condensation and prove that a system in an intermediate situation between two pure phases consists of a simple mixture of the two phases involved.     

The mass renormalization of nonperturbative light-front Hamiltonian theory: an illustration using truncated, Pauli-Villars-regulated Yukawa interactions

We obtain analytic, nonperturbative, approximate solutions of Yukawa theory in the one-fermion sector using light-front quantization. The theory is regulated in the ultraviolet by the introduction of heavy Pauli-Villars scalar and fermion fields, each with negative norm. In order to obtain a directly soluble problem, fermion-pair creation and annihilation are neglected, and the number of bosonic constituents is limited to one of either type. We discuss some of the features of the wave function of the eigensolution, including its endpoint behavior and spin and orbital angular momentum content. The limit of infinite Pauli-Villars mass receives special scrutiny.     

Renormalization group equations and the continuum limit of some renormalizable quantum field theories

The renormalization group equations for asymptotically and non-asymptotically free theories are discussed by exploiting the general properties of their integral curves. Some constraints are derived on the existence of a consistent continuum limit for pure Yang-Mills theories in an infinite quantization volume. An analogy between the far infrared behaviour of non-abelian gauge theories and the deep ultraviolet one of asymptotically free theories is discussed.     

Probing the convergence of perturbative series in baryon chiral perturbation theory

Using the examples of pion-nucleon scattering and the nucleon mass we analyze the convergence of perturbative series in the framework of baryon chiral perturbation theory. For both cases we sum up sets of an infinite number of diagrams by solving equations exactly and compare the solutions with the perturbative contributions.     

Power law running of the effective gluon mass

The dynamically generated effective gluon mass is known to depend non-trivially on the momentum, decreasing sufficiently fast in the deep ultraviolet, in order for the renormalizability of QCD to be preserved. General arguments based on the analogy with the constituent quark masses, as well as explicit calculations using the operator-product expansion, suggest that the gluon mass falls off as the inverse square of the momentum, relating it to the gauge-invariant gluon condensate of dimension four. In this article we demonstrate that the power law running of the effective gluon mass is indeed dynamically realized at the level of the non-perturbative Schwinger-Dyson equation. We study a gauge-invariant non-linear integral equation involving the gluon self-energy, and establish the conditions necessary for the existence of infrared finite solutions, described in terms of a momentum-dependent gluon mass. Assuming a simplified form for the gluon propagator, we derive a secondary integral equation that controls the running of the mass in the deep ultraviolet. Depending on the values chosen for certain parameters entering into the Ansatz for the fully dressed three-gluon vertex, this latter equation yields either logarithmic solutions, familiar from previous linear studies, or a new type of solutions, displaying power law running. In addition, it furnishes a non-trivial integral constraint, which restricts significantly (but does not determine fully) the running of the mass in the intermediate and infrared regimes. The numerical analysis presented is in complete agreement with the analytic results obtained, showing clearly the appearance of the two types of momentum dependence, well-separated in the relevant space of parameters. Several technical improvements, various open issues, and possible future directions, are briefly discussed.     

Random surfaces with rigidity at largeD

A model of two-dimensional random surfaces embedded in aD-dimensional space is investigated in the largeD limit. Its action is that of Nambu-Goto, supplemented by an extrinsic curvature term. The surfaces considered have the topology of a torus. For largeD the (renormalized) effective action is constructed using a Pauli-Villars regularization procedure. Our main concern are finite size effects. No nonperturbative modification arises for the Coulomblike term appearing in the effective energy at large distances. The two-point function of the model implies that the fluctuations diverge logarithmically with the size, a behaviour familiar from surface roughening in lattice gauge theories.     

Calculation of the Longitudinal Structure Function from Regge-Like Behaviour of the Gluon Distribution Function in Leading Order Approximation at Low x

We present the calculations of FL longitudinal structure functions from DGLAP evolution equation in leading order （LO） at low-x, assuming the Regge-like behaviour of gluon distribution at this limit. The calculated results are compared with the H1 data and QCD fit. It is shown that the obtained results are very close to the mentioned methods. The proposed simple analytical relation for EL provides a t-evolution equation for the determination of the longitudinal structure function at low-x. All the results can consistently be described within the framework of perturbative QCD, which essentially shows increases as x decreases.     

Infrared gluon and ghost propagator exponents from lattice QCD

The compatibility of the pure power law infrared solution of QCD and lattice data for the gluon and ghost propagators in Landau gauge is discussed. For the gluon propagator, the lattice data are well described by a pure power law with an infrared exponent κ∼0.53, in the Dyson–Schwinger notation. κ is measured using a technique that suppresses finite volume effects. This value is consistent with a vanishing zero momentum gluon propagator, in agreement with the Gribov–Zwanziger confinement scenario. For the ghost propagator, the lattice data seem not to follow a pure power law, at least for the range of momenta accessed in our simulation.     

The Physics of Exclusive Reactions in QCD: Theory and Phenomenology

The modern formulation of exclusive reactions within Quantum Chromodynamics is reviewed, the emphasis being placed on the pivotal ideas and methods pertaining to perturbative and non-perturbative topics. Specific problems, related to scale locality, infrared safety, gluonic radiative corrections (Sudakov effects), and the role of hadronic size effects (intrinsic transverse momentum), are studied. These issues are more precisely analyzed in terms of the essential mechanisms of momentum transfer to a hadron while remaining intact. Different factorization schemes are considered and the conceptual lacunas are pointed out. The quite technical subject of renormalization-group evolution is given a detailed account. By combining analytical and numerical algorithms, the one-gluon exchange nucleon evolution equation is diagonalized and next-to-leading eigenfunctions are calculated in terms of Appell polynomials. The corresponding anomalous dimensions of trilinear quark operators are found to form a degenerate system whose envelope shows logarithmic large-order behavior. Selected applications of this framework are presented, focusing on the helicity-conserving elastic form factors of the pion and the nucleon. The theoretical constraints imposed by QCD sum rules on the moments of nucleon distribution amplitudes are used to determine a whole spectrum of optional solutions. They organize themselves along an “orbit” characterized by a striking scaling relation between the form-factor ratio and the projection coefficient B₄ on to the corresponding eigensolution. The main reasons for the failure of the present theoretical predictions to match the experimental data are discussed and workable explanations are sketched.     

Dynamical chiral-symmetry breaking at T = 0 and T ≠ 0 in the Schwinger-Dyson equation with lattice QCD data

Dynamical chiral-symmetry breaking (DCSB) in QCD is investigated in the Schwinger-Dyson (SD) formalism based on lattice QCD data. From the quenched lattice data for the quark propagator in the Landau gauge, we extract the SD integral kernel function, the product of the quark-gluon vertex and the polarization factor in the gluon propagator, in an Ansatz-independent manner. We find that the SD kernel function exhibits the characteristic behavior of nonperturbative physics, such as infrared vanishing and strong enhancement at the intermediate-energy region around p 0.6GeV. The infrared and intermediate energy region (0.4GeV < p < 1.5GeV) is found to be most relevant for DCSB from analysis on the relation between the SD kernel and the quark mass function. We apply the lattice-QCD-based SD equation to thermal QCD, and calculate the quark mass function at the finite temperature. Spontaneously broken chiral symmetry is found to be restored at high temperature above 110 MeV.     

On the Algebraic Index for Riemannian Étale Groupoids

In this paper, we construct an explicit quasi-isomorphism to study the cyclic cohomology of a deformation quantization over a Riemannian étale groupoid. Such a quasi-isomorphism allows us to propose a general algebraic index problem for Riemannian étale groupoids. We discuss solutions to that index problem when the groupoid is proper or defined by a constant Dirac structure on a 3-dimensional torus.     

Infrared safety in factorized hard scattering cross-sections

The rules of soft-collinear effective theory can be used naïvely to write hard scattering cross-sections as convolutions of separate hard, jet, and soft functions. One condition required to guarantee the validity of such a factorization is the infrared safety of these functions in perturbation theory. Using e⁺e⁻$e^{+}{e}^{-}$ angularity distributions as an example, we propose and illustrate an intuitive method to test this infrared safety at one loop. We look for regions of integration in the sum of Feynman diagrams contributing to the jet and soft functions where the integrals become infrared divergent. Our analysis is independent of an explicit infrared regulator, clarifies how to distinguish infrared and ultraviolet singularities in pure dimensional regularization, and demonstrates the necessity of taking zero-bins into account to obtain infrared-safe jet functions.     

Spontaneously broken symmetries: Effective lagrangians at finite volume

At low temperatures and large volumes, the partition function is dominated by the Goldstone bosons generated by spontaneous symmetry breakdown. We show that the behaviour of the system can be analyzed in terms of an effective lagrangian, whose coupling constants are independent of the temperature, but, in general, depend on the volume. If the Bose (Fermi) fields of the underlying theory are subject to periodic (antiperiodic) boundary conditions, there is no volume dependence: the effective lagrangian coincides with the standard, Lorentz invariant expression which describes the behaviour of the system at infinite volume and at zero temperature.     

Bose–Einstein condensation in the three-sphere and in the infinite slab: Analytical results

We study the finite size effects on Bose–Einstein condensation (BEC) of an ideal non-relativistic Bose gas in the three-sphere (spatial section of the Einstein universe) and in a partially finite box which is infinite in two of the spatial directions (infinite slab). Using the framework of grand-canonical statistics, we consider the number of particles, the condensate fraction and the specific heat. After obtaining asymptotic expansions for large system size, which are valid throughout the BEC regime, we describe analytically how the thermodynamic limit behaviour is approached. In particular, in the critical region of the BEC transition, we express the chemical potential and the specific heat as simple explicit functions of the temperature, highlighting the effects of finite size. These effects are seen to be different for the two different geometries. We also consider the Bose gas in a one-dimensional box, a system which does not possess BEC in the sense of a phase transition even in the infinite volume limit.     

Comments on quasiparticle models of quark–gluon plasma

Here we comment on the thermodynamic inconsistency problem and the reformulation of statistical mechanics of widely studied quasiparticle models of quark–gluon plasma. Their starting relation, the expression for pressure itself is a wrong choice and lead to thermodynamic inconsistency and the requirements of the reformulation of statistical mechanics. We propose a new approach to the problem using the standard statistical mechanics and is thermodynamically consistent. We also show that the other quasiparticle models may be obtained from our general formalism as a special case under certain restrictive condition. Further, as an example, we have applied our model to explain the nonideal behaviour of gluon plasma and obtained a remarkable good fit to the lattice results by adjusting just a single parameter.