Beyond one-gluon exchange in the infrared limit of Yang-Mills theory

Abstract: We analyze the Wilson loop for a pure Yang-Mills theory, using a decoupling solution in close agreement with lattice computations. At one-gluon exchange level it is seen that the potential cannot yield a linear rising contribution as expected for a confining theory. Next-to-leading order correction gives rise to a quartic term for momenta in the gluon propagator that, in agreement with Gribov's view, yields a linear confining term. This correction is due to a two-loop or sunrise integral that we need to evaluate in the low-momenta limit. In the infrared regime, the physical consistency of the theory is determined by a natural cut-off, arising from the integration of the classical equations of the theory, fixing in this way the regularization scheme.