Reconciling massive-like correlators with linear-potential confinement in Yang–Mills theory

Determine how two-point gauge-field correlation functions exhibiting infrared massive-like scales can arise within the confining regime of pure Yang–Mills theory that is characterized by a linearly rising potential rather than a Yukawa potential, thereby reconciling massive-like correlators with Wilson confinement.

Background

Continuum approaches to Yang–Mills theory (including refined Gribov–Zwanziger, Dyson–Schwinger, and functional renormalization group methods) and lattice studies have consistently reported infrared two-point correlation functions with dynamically generated mass scales, suggesting massive-like behavior for gluons. Such behavior often aligns with Yukawa-type potentials, which contrasts with the Wilson picture of confinement that features a linearly rising static quark potential.

This tension motivates an explicit question about the compatibility of massive-like correlators with confinement in the Wilson sense. The paper proposes addressing this by computing gauge-invariant field-strength correlators using a wavefunctional peaked on ensembles of oriented and nonoriented center vortices and monopoles, aiming to show how a mass scale emerges from the nonoriented soft component of the center-vortex condensate while maintaining confining properties.