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Aguilar, A. C., Cardona, J. C., Ferreira, M. N., & Papavassiliou, J. (2017). Non-Abelian Ball-Chiu vertex for arbitrary Euclidean momenta. Phys. Rev. D, 96(1), 014029–29pp.
Abstract: We determine the non-Abelian version of the four nontransverse form factors of the quark-gluon vertex, using exact expressions derived from the Slavnov-Taylor identity that this vertex satisfies. In addition to the quark and ghost propagators, a key ingredient of the present approach is the quark-ghost scattering kernel, which is computed within the one-loop dressed approximation. The vertex form factors obtained from this procedure are evaluated for arbitrary Euclidean momenta, and display features not captured by the well-known Ball-Chiu vertex, deduced from the Abelian (ghost-free) Ward identity. Particularly interesting in this analysis is the so-called soft-gluon limit, which, unlike other kinematic configurations considered, is especially sensitive to the approximations employed for the vertex entering in the quark-ghost scattering kernel, and may even be affected by a subtle numerical instability. As an elementary application of the results obtained, we evaluate and compare certain renormalization-point-independent combinations, which contribute to the interaction kernels appearing in the standard quark gap and Bethe-Salpeter equations. In doing so, even though all form factors of the quark-gluon vertex, and in particular the transverse ones which are unconstrained by our procedure, enter nontrivially in the aforementioned kernels, only the contribution of a single form factor, corresponding to the classical (tree-level) tensor, will be considered.
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Mavromatos, N. E., & Papavassiliou, J. (2018). Singular lensing from the scattering on special space-time defects. Eur. Phys. J. C, 78(1), 68–15pp.
Abstract: It is well known that certain special classes of self-gravitating point-like defects, such as global (non gauged) monopoles, give rise to non-asymptotically flat space-times characterized by solid angle deficits, whose size depends on the details of the underlying microscopic models. The scattering of electrically neutral particles on such space-times is described by amplitudes that exhibit resonant behaviour when thescattering and deficit angles coincide. This, in turn, leads to ring-like structures where the cross sections are formally divergent (“singular lensing”). In this work, we revisit this particular phenomenon, with the twofold purpose of placing it in a contemporary and more general context, in view of renewed interest in the theory and general phenomenology of such defects, and, more importantly, of addressing certain subtleties that appear in the particular computation that leads to the aforementioned effect. In particular, by adopting a specific regularization procedure for the formally infinite Legendre series encountered, we manage to ensure the recovery of theMinkowski space-time, and thus the disappearance of the lensing phenomenon, in the nodefect limit, and the validity of the optical theorem for the elastic total cross section. In addition, the singular nature of the phenomenon is confirmed by means of an alternative calculation, which, unlike the original approach, makes no use of the generating function of the Legendre polynomials, but rather exploits the asymptotic properties of the Fresnel integrals.
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Aguilar, A. C., Cardona, J. C., Ferreira, M. N., & Papavassiliou, J. (2018). Quark gap equation with non-Abelian Ball-Chiu vertex. Phys. Rev. D, 98(1), 014002–15pp.
Abstract: The full quark-gluon vertex is a crucial ingredient for the dynamical generation of a constituent quark mass from the standard quark gap equation, and its nontransverse part may be determined exactly from the nonlinear Slav nov-Taylor identity that it satisfies. The resulting expression involves not only the quark propagator, but also the ghost dressing function and the quark-ghost kernel, and constitutes the non-abelian extension of the so-called “Ball-Chiu vertex,” known from QED. In the present work we carry out a detailed study of the impact of this vertex on the gap equation and the quark masses generated from it, putting particular emphasis on the contributions directly related with the ghost sector of the theory, and especially the quark-ghost kernel. In particular, we set up and solve the coupled system of six equations that determine the four form factors of the latter kernel and the two typical Dirac structures composing the quark propagator. Due to the incomplete implementation of the multiplicative renormalizability at the level of the gap equation, the correct anomalous dimension of the quark mass is recovered through the inclusion of a certain function, whose ultraviolet behavior is fixed, but its infrared completion is unknown; three particular Ansatze for this function are considered, and their effect on the quark mass and the pion decay constant is explored. The main results of this study indicate that the numerical impact of the quark-ghost kernel is considerable; the transition from a tree-level kernel to the one computed hem leads to a 20% increase in the value of the quark mass at the origin. Particularly interesting is the contribution of the fourth Ball-Chiu form factor, which, contrary to the Abelian case, is nonvanishing, and accounts for 10% of the total constituent quark mass.
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Souza, E. V., Ferreira, M. N., Aguilar, A. C., Papavassiliou, J., Roberts, C. D., & Xu, S. S. (2020). Pseudoscalar glueball mass: a window on three-gluon interactions. Eur. Phys. J. A, 56(1), 25–7pp.
Abstract: In pure-glue QCD, gluon-gluon scattering in the J(PC) = 0(-+) channel is described by a very simple equation, especially if one considers just the leading contribution to the scattering kernel. Of all components in this kernel, only the three-gluon vertex, V-mu nu rho, is poorly constrained by contemporary analyses; hence, calculations of 0(-+) glueball properties serve as a clear window onto the character and form of V-mu nu rho. This is important given that many modern calculations of V-mu nu rho predict the appearance of an infrared suppression in the scalar function which comes to modulate the bare vertex after the nonperturbative resummation of interactions. Such behaviour is a peculiar prediction; but we find that the suppression is essential if one is to achieve agreement with lattice-QCD predictions for the 0(-+) glueball mass. Hence, it is likely that this novel feature of V-mu nu rho is real and has observable implications for the spectrum, decays and interactions of all QCD bound-states.
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Aguilar, A. C., Ferreira, M. N., & Papavassiliou, J. (2021). Gluon dynamics from an ordinary differential equation. Eur. Phys. J. C, 81(1), 54–20pp.
Abstract: We present a novel method for computing the nonperturbative kinetic term of the gluon propagator from an ordinary differential equation, whose derivation hinges on the central hypothesis that the regular part of the three-gluon vertex and the aforementioned kinetic term are related by a partial Slavnov-Taylor identity. The main ingredients entering in the solution are projection of the three-gluon vertex and a particular derivative of the ghost-gluon kernel, whose approximate form is derived from a Schwinger-Dyson equation. Crucially, the requirement of a pole-free answer determines the initial condition, whose value is calculated from an integral containing the same ingredients as the solution itself. This feature fixes uniquely, at least in principle, the form of the kinetic term, once the ingredients have been accurately evaluated. In practice, however, due to substantial uncertainties in the computation of the necessary inputs, certain crucial components need be adjusted by hand, in order to obtain self-consistent results. Furthermore, if the gluon propagator has been independently accessed from the lattice, the solution for the kinetic term facilitates the extraction of the momentum-dependent effective gluon mass. The practical implementation of this method is carried out in detail, and the required approximations and theoretical assumptions are duly highlighted.
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Cui, Z. F., Ding, M., Morgado, J. M., Raya, K., Binosi, D., Chang, L., et al. (2022). Concerning pion parton distributions. Eur. Phys. J. A, 58(1), 10–14pp.
Abstract: Analyses of the pion valence-quark distribution function (DF), u(pi) (x; sigma), which explicitly incorporate the behaviour of the pion wave function prescribed by quantum chromodynamics (QCD), predict u(pi) (x similar or equal to 1; sigma) similar to (1 – x)(beta(sigma)), beta(sigma greater than or similar to m(p)) > 2, where mp is the proton mass. Nevertheless, more than forty years after the first experiment to collect data suitable for extracting the x similar or equal to 1 behaviour of up, the empirical status remains uncertain because some methods used to fit existing data return a result for up that violates this constraint. Such disagreement entails one of the following conclusions: the analysis concerned is incomplete; not all data being considered are a true expression of qualities intrinsic to the pion; or QCD, as it is currently understood, is not the theory of strong interactions. New, precise data are necessary before a final conclusion is possible. In developing these positions, we exploit a single proposition, viz. there is an effective charge which defines an evolution scheme for parton DFs that is all-orders exact. This proposition has numerous corollaries, which can be used to test the character of any DF, whether fitted or calculated.
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Aguilar, A. C., Ferreira, M. N., & Papavassiliou, J. (2022). Exploring smoking-gun signals of the Schwinger mechanism in QCD. Phys. Rev. D, 105(1), 014030–26pp.
Abstract: In Quantum Chromodynamics, the Schwinger mechanism endows the gluons with an effective mass through the dynamical formation of massless bound-state poles that are longitudinally coupled. The presence of these poles affects profoundly the infrared properties of the interaction vertices, inducing crucial modifications to their fundamental Ward identities. Within this general framework, we present a detailed derivation of the non-Abelian Ward identity obeyed by the pole-free part of the three-gluon vertex in the softgluon limit, and determine the smoking-gun displacement that the onset of the Schwinger mechanism produces to the standard result. Quite importantly, the quantity that describes this distinctive feature coincides formally with the bound-state wave function that controls the massless pole formation. Consequently, this signal may be computed in two independent ways: by solving an approximate version of the pertinent BetheSalpeter integral equation, or by appropriately combining the elements that enter in the aforementioned Ward identity. For the implementation of both methods we employ two- and three-point correlation functions obtained from recent lattice simulations, and a partial derivative of the ghost-gluon kernel, which is computed from the corresponding Schwinger-Dyson equation. Our analysis reveals an excellent coincidence between the results obtained through either method, providing a highly nontrivial self-consistency check for the entire approach. When compared to the null hypothesis, where the Schwinger mechanism is assumed to be inactive, the statistical significance of the resulting signal is estimated to be 3 standard deviations.
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Aguilar, A. C., Ferreira, M. N., Ibañez, D., Oliveira, B. M., & Papavassiliou, J. (2023). Patterns of gauge symmetry in the background field method. Eur. Phys. J. C, 83(1), 86–20pp.
Abstract: The correlation functions of Yang-Mills theories formulated in the background field method satisfy linear Slavnov-Taylor identities, which are naive generalizations of simple tree level relations, with no deformations originating from the ghost-sector of the theory. In recent years, a stronger version of these identities has been found to hold at the level of the background gluon self-energy, whose transversality is enforced separately for each special block of diagrams contributing to the gluon Schwinger-Dyson equation. In the present work we demonstrate by means of explicit calculations that the same distinct realization of the Slavnov-Taylor identity persists in the case of the background three-gluon vertex. The analysis is carried out at the level of the exact Schwinger-Dyson equation for this vertex, with no truncations or simplifying assumptions. The demonstration entails the contraction of individual vertex diagrams by the relevant momentum, which activates Slavnov-Taylor identities of vertices and multi-particle kernels nested inside these graphs; the final result emerges by virtue of a multitude of extensive cancellations, without the need of performing explicit integrations. In addition, we point out that background Ward identities amount to replacing derivatives of propagators by zero-momentum background-gluon insertions, in exact analogy to standard properties of Abelian gauge theories. Finally, certain potential applications of these results are briefly discussed.
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Ferreira, M. N., & Papavassiliou, J. (2023). Gauge Sector Dynamics in QCD. Particles, 6(1), 312–363.
Abstract: The dynamics of the QCD gauge sector give rise to non-perturbative phenomena that are crucial for the internal consistency of the theory; most notably, they account for the generation of a gluon mass through the action of the Schwinger mechanism, the taming of the Landau pole, the ensuing stabilization of the gauge coupling, and the infrared suppression of the three-gluon vertex. In the present work, we review some key advances in the ongoing investigation of this sector within the framework of the continuum Schwinger function methods, supplemented by results obtained from lattice simulations.
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Aguilar, A. C. et al, & Papavassiliou, J. (2019). Pion and kaon structure at the electron-ion collider. Eur. Phys. J. A, 55(10), 190–15pp.
Abstract: Understanding the origin and dynamics of hadron structure and in turn that of atomic nuclei is a central goal of nuclear physics. This challenge entails the questions of how does the roughly 1 GeV mass-scale that characterizes atomic nuclei appear; why does it have the observed value; and, enigmatically, why are the composite Nambu-Goldstone (NG) bosons in quantum chromodynamics (QCD) abnormally light in comparison? In this perspective, we provide an analysis of the mass budget of the pion and proton in QCD; discuss the special role of the kaon, which lies near the boundary between dominance of strong and Higgs mass-generation mechanisms; and explain the need for a coherent effort in QCD phenomenology and continuum calculations, in exa-scale computing as provided by lattice QCD, and in experiments to make progress in understanding the origins of hadron masses and the distribution of that mass within them. We compare the unique capabilities foreseen at the electron-ion collider (EIC) with those at the hadron-electron ring accelerator (HERA), the only previous electron-proton collider; and describe five key experimental measurements, enabled by the EIC and aimed at delivering fundamental insights that will generate concrete answers to the questions of how mass and structure arise in the pion and kaon, the Standard Model's NG modes, whose surprisingly low mass is critical to the evolution of our Universe.
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